Bhutan King Wangchuck to visit Dhaka on Monday

During the king’s visit, the two governments will sign three MoUs and renew a pact, said Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud

Bhutan’s King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck is likely to arrive in Dhaka on Monday for his first state visit after the Awami League formed the government for a new term.

The four-day visit by King Wangchuck will include the signing of four memoranda of understanding and pacts, Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud said in a press briefing on Sunday.

President Mohammed Shahabuddin will welcome King Wangchuck at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on Monday. He will then be given a guard of honour.

The king’s entourage will include the queen, the royal family, ministers, and other high-ups of the Bhutanese government.

King Wangchuck will pay his tribute to Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and visit the memorial museum at Road No. 32 in Dhanmondi.

A courtesy visit with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud has been scheduled for the evening on Monday. The MoUs will be signed in the presence of the prime minister.

During the king’s visit, the governments will sign three MoUs and renew a pact, said Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud.

The establishment of a burn and plastic surgery unit in Thimphu, a special economic zone dedicated to Bhutan in Kurigram and technological cooperation to ensure consumer protection were part of the MoUs, the minister said.

An existing pact in the cultural sector would be renewed, he added.

A burn and plastic surgery unit in Thimphu would bring broader benefits to the people in the region, while the special economic zone will ensure more trade, business and employment opportunities in the northern part of Bangladesh, as well as escalate the bilateral trade and investment between Bangladesh and Bhutan, Hasan Mahmud said.

On Tuesday, Bangladesh’s Independence Day, the Bhutanese monarch, whose country was the first one to recognise Bangladesh at its birth, will pay his homage to the martyrs of the Liberation War.

He is likely to visit the Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery on the same day and meet President Shahabuddin in the evening.

The king’s itinerary includes a visit to the Padma Bridge and the Bangladesh Special Economic Zone in Narayanganj’s Araihazar on Wednesday.

He is scheduled to fly back on Thursday after visiting the Special Economic Zone in Kurigram.