Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud has urged the leaders of Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to hold Israel accountable on war crime charges for its ongoing attacks on Palestinian civilians.
Speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the 15th OIC Summit in Gambia on Saturday (4 May), the foreign minister also called for an immediate end to the ongoing Israeli aggression in Palestine and ensuring uninterrupted access to humanitarian aid for the Palestinian people.
Hasan Mahmud emphasised that resolving the ongoing crisis in Gaza requires ensuring accountability and punishment for those responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Palestine.
In his speech, the minister expressed concern over the global spread of Islamophobia and urged the OIC to collaborate with various international organisations and institutions, including the United Nations and the European Union, to eliminate Islamophobia.
Hasan Mahmud also extended his gratitude to Gambia for filing the Rohingya Genocide case against Myanmar at the International Court of Justice and urged OIC member states to provide necessary financial assistance for the proper handling of the case.
The foreign minister is leading the Bangladesh delegation at the OIC Summit being held in Gambia on 4-5 May. Bangladesh and Egypt have agreed to strengthen bilateral cooperation by organising regular foreign office consultations.
Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud and Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Hassan Shoukry had a meeting on Saturday afternoon on the sidelines of the opening session of the 15th Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Summit in Gambia and discussed issues related to mutual interest, including increasing trade and investment between the two countries and the Rohingya crisis.
At the meeting, Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud proposed mutual visa exemption and trade expansion with Egypt and the Egyptian foreign minister initially agreed in principle to sign an agreement on diplomatic and official visa exemption.
Besides, the Egyptian foreign minister assured that his government would give full support to the construction of the Chancery building of the Bangladesh mission in Egypt.
After that, Secretary General of the Digital Cooperation Organization (DCO) Deemah Al Yahya paid a courtesy call to Foreign Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud.
The Secretary General informed the Foreign Minister that the member states of DCO are drafting an agreement titled ‘Multilateral AI Agreement’ on International Use of Artificial Intelligence.
Deemah Al Yahya expressed sincere interest when the Foreign Minister invited him to visit Bangladesh to see the progress of Bangladesh in the field of information and communication technology.
He hoped that there would be an opportunity to expand the field of cooperation of DCO with Bangladesh in the field of information and communication technology through this visit.
Foreign ministers of Bangladesh and Egypt discuss Rohingya crisis
Foreign Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud meet with Sameh Shoukry, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Egypt on May 4, on the sidelines of their participation in the work of the fifteenth session of the Islamic Summit Conference currently being held in Gambia.
According to a report of the Al Ahram newspaper, Ambassador Ahmed Abu Zeid, the official spokesman and Director of the Public Diplomacy Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Egypt, stated that the two ministers stressed during the meeting the close historical relations that bring together the two countries, and expressed their aspiration to improve these relations by developing frameworks of cooperation in various fields.
The two ministers also expressed their aspiration to strengthen cooperation within multilateral frameworks, especially since the two countries enjoy membership in a number of organizations and groupings, most notably the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the Group of Eight Developing Countries, and the Non-Aligned Movement.
In this context, Minister Shoukry expressed Egypt’s interest in enhancing trade exchange between the two countries and encouraging the establishment of joint projects in free economic zones in Egypt, specifically in the Suez Canal Special Economic Zone, due to its promising and diverse investment opportunities.
The Foreign Minister also appreciated Bangladesh’s humanitarian role by bearing the burden of hosting more than one million Rohingya refugees, expressing Egypt’s support in this regard, through the contributions of the Egyptian Agency for Partnership for Development and Al-Azhar Al-Sharif.
Abu Zeid revealed that part of the meeting dealt with areas of coordination between the two sides in international forums, where the two ministers praised the level of coordination and cooperation as it exists.
The official spokesman concluded his statements by noting that the two ministers exchanged views and assessments regarding a number of regional and international issues of common concern, most notably the developments in the situation in Gaza and the Egyptian efforts aimed at resolving the crisis, as well as the tensions in the Red Sea region and their repercussions on international navigation and trade.
At the end of the meeting, the two ministers agreed to continue consultations to maintain the pace of communication between the two sides, and to coordinate positions on regional and international issues of common interest, as well as within multilateral frameworks.
