Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will make a “very extensive and engaging” visit to Paris after the COP-26 summit in Glasgow, Scotland.
Briefing reporters Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Saturday said both French President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Jean Castex invited her for the visit. She will be given guard of honour in three places.
The prime minister will leave for Scotland on Sunday in a special flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines. After the climate summit, she will go to London on November 3 and from there she will go to Paris on November 9 for a five-day bilateral visit.
The Paris visit will be a very "extensive and engaging" one and will elevate bilateral relations.
She will have bilateral meetings with the French President and the Prime Minister separately during the visit.
“Both the French President and the Prime Minister invited our Prime Minister to visit France," Dr Momen said.
The Prime Minister will be given guard of honour in three places, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md. Shahriar Alam added.
He said many French companies want to invest in Bangladesh and there is interest from both sides to boost export and import to strengthen the trade relations.
A number of deals are expected to be signed during the visit. “We are working on that,” Dr Momen said, when asked for the details of those Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and Letter of Intent.
On November 11, UNESCO will confer the first-ever "UNESCO-Bangladesh Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman International Prize for the Creative Economy” award in the presence of the prime minister.
Momen said it is a pride for the entire nation that UNESCO introduced the international award after the name of Bangabandhu marking the Birth Centenary of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
Besides, the Prime Minister will hold a bilateral meeting with UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay during her stay in Paris.
Besides, UNESCO invited Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to attend a high-level meeting marking its 75th anniversary on November 12.
The Premier will highlight the universal ideals of Bangabandhu as well as her own vision on the importance of universal, quality and science-based education and healthy and inclusive culture in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).
Dr Momen said French Ministers and lawmakers are likely to meet the Prime Minister during her visit.
He said the chiefs of many French companies and a delegation of the MEDEF (the Mouvement des entreprises de France, or the Movement of the Enterprises of France, is the largest employer federation in France) want to meet the Prime Minister.
“We're expecting that the visit will take the relations to a newer height,” Dr Momen said.
The award will create a knowledge-sharing mechanism by capturing, celebrating, and communicating best practice in the development of creative entrepreneurship, according to Unesco documents.
The objectives of the award are in line with strategic objective 8 of Unesco's Medium-Term Strategy for 2014-2021 and with the 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions.
The award will help spread the ideology of Bangabandhu globally with further internationalisation of his work, life and achievements, the foreign minister said.
“Bangladesh and Bangabandhu are one and unique which was reflected in the name of the award. This award will play a role in branding Bangladesh and boosting its image globally," Dr Momen said.
