FM starts 3-nation tour
Foreign Minister Dipu Moni yesterday started a three-nation -- Kazakhstan, Lithuania and the UK -- tour to attend various international events, including OIC meeting.
She left Dhaka for the eight-day visit last night.
Foreign ministry sources said she will first attend the 38th Session of the Organisation of Islamic Conference Foreign Ministers scheduled for June 28-30 in Astana, the capital city of Kazakhstan.
She will then proceed for two-day (June 30-July 1) visit to Vilnius, Lithuania to hold official meeting with her counterpart Andronius Azubalis and attend the 6th ministerial meeting of the community of democracies on July 1.
She will also attend the inaugural session of Pubali Exchange Company (UK) Limited in London on July 3 and return home early July 5.
Officials said at the OIC meeting, Bangladesh will ratify the rules of origin agreement that would effectively lay the legal foundation of a preferential trade deal among OIC members.
The preferential trade system envisages a transition to a three-step tax reduction system among Muslim countries and needs the approval of at least 10 member states to be launched. Nine OIC countries have already ratified the agreement and it would be effective with the ratification by Bangladesh.
In Astana, she will attend a meeting of the ministers of the Central Asian countries and representatives of the OIC Institutions on the OIC Action Plan for Cooperation with Central Asia.
Foreign ministers from different countries, including US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and high profile UN and EU leaders will address the conference.
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