In its first outreach to China, the newly elected Bangladesh government will send a 20-member delegation to Beijing this month. The team, led by the General Secretary of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and Minister of Local Government, Rural Development and Co-operatives, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, will depart from Dhaka on April 16 and is expected to return on April 24.
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The delegation includes Ismail Zabihullah, adviser to Prime Minister Tarique Rahman; popular singer Baby Nazneen; and Sanjida Tuly, the convener of the voluntary organisation Mayer Dak, who led the campaign demanding investigations into numerous cases of extrajudicial arrests and killings during Sheikh Hasina’s tenure. The team also includes current BNP Member of Parliament and retired Air Vice Marshal Altaf Hossain Choudhury. The BNP delegation’s visit is expected to be followed by a trip from Foreign Minister Khalilur Rahman, who visited India from April 8 to 10.
One of the areas where Bangladesh–China relations have expanded in the past one and a half years is medical tourism, as lingering visa issues between India and Bangladesh have prompted Bangladeshi patients to seek treatment in Chinese hospitals in Kunming, which has air connectivity with Bangladesh. While details of the upcoming tour remain unavailable, it is understood that the Bangladeshi delegation will meet senior Chinese officials, given that Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir is the seniormost Minister in the Tarique Rahman government, which came to power after winning the February 12 election.
