Porimol Palma

Eight top officials of an IT company that provides software to the Malaysian government were arrested Tuesday for accepting bribes to recruit workers, including Bangladeshis.

China wants to deepen ties with Bangladesh as global geopolitical polarisation sharpens, and this would be a major objective of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s two-day visit to Bangladesh starting today, say international relations analysts.

UN Human Rights Commissioner Michelle Bachelet will be focusing on human rights situation in Bangladesh, Rohingya crisis, and climate change during her four-day visit here that begins on August 14.

Bangladesh wants the UAE to increase the number work visas for its citizens in the Gulf country as the figure has dropped significantly in recent years.

The verdict of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has created a new scope for the world to mount pressure on Myanmar military for ensuring justice for the Rohingyas, analysts and rights activists say.

Foreign investors will be increasingly interested in considering Bangladesh as a better place for investment, with the Padma Bridge expanding connectivity both within the country and beyond and improving supply chains, said the Nordic Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NCCI) in Bangladesh. 

Malaysia has started the process of hiring workers from Bangladesh without settling the controversy surrounding the syndicate of 25 agencies chosen to conduct the recruitment.

Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen yesterday started a weeklong visit to two Asean countries, aiming to boost relations with the bloc and push the agenda of Rohingya repatriation.

Bangladesh’s national election next year will be critical in determining whether the country moves towards greater democracy or greater autocracy, said a recently released policy document of the US.

Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has started investigation into the allegations of syndication in the recruitment of Bangladeshi workers in the Southeast Asian country.

Dr Amal Jadou, Palestine’s deputy foreign minister, talks to Porimol Palma of The Daily Star about the decades long Palestine-Israel conflict, and the recent escalation of violence against the Palestinians.

Dhaka will be focusing on water sharing, waiver of anti-dumping duty on jute and energy security during the foreign minister-level Joint Consultative Commission meeting scheduled in Delhi tomorrow.

After a meeting with Expatriates’ Welfare Minister Imran Ahmed on June 1, Malaysian Human Resources Minister M Saravanan said the migration cost for the Bangladeshis going to Malaysia under the new deal would be zero.

The US will push for labour reforms and cotton exports to Bangladesh, while Dhaka plans to seek reinstatement of the GSP trade benefit during the High-Level Economic Partnership Dialogue in Washington DC, to be held today.

British International Investment (BII) has embarked on an ambitious plan of lending $450 million to Bangladesh over the next five years, finding that the country has a stable government and policy support for private sector development.

Unicef has recommended that the government prioritise a countrywide remedial programme for recovering the learning loss caused by 18 months of school closure amid the Covid pandemic.

Bangladesh will seek to avail the GSP Plus facility, which will provide trade privileges after the country graduates from LDC status, during the 10th EU-Bangladesh Joint Commission meeting beginning in Brussels today.

US Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom Rashad Hussain travelled to Bangladesh on April 17-20. He visited the Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazar, met government officials, civil society and youth groups in Dhaka. In a written email interview on May 5, he shared with The Daily Star the purpose of his visit and the message he left here or will communicate to Washington.

Bangladesh and the US are holding the ninth defence dialogue in Hawaii today as the two countries seek to strengthen security cooperation in the changed geopolitical landscape.

Bangladesh and Denmark have recently signed Sustainable and Green Framework Engagement to strengthen the partnership on climate and green transition. It happened in Dhaka during the three-day visit of Denmark’s Crown Princess Mary and Danish Minister for Development Flemming Moller Mortensen. Before leaving Dhaka on April 27, Mortensen shared his views on future cooperation between the two countries with The Daily Star.