PM returns home from Brunei

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina returned home this evening concluding her three-day official visit to Brunei Darussalam at the invitation of Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah.

A special flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines carrying the premier and her entourage members landed at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka at around 7.25pm.

The flight took off from Brunei International Airport in Bandar Seri Begawan, the Brunei capital at 5.15pm local time today.

Brunei Minister of Primary Resources and Tourism Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Ali bin Haji Apong and Bangladeshi High Commissioner to Brunei Darussalam Air Vice Marshal (Retd) Mahmud Hussain were present at the airport to see the premier off.

Earlier, the premier arrived at Brunei International Airport in Bandar Seri Begawan, the Brunei capital around 2.35pm local time on April 21.

During the visit, she joined a number of programmes including holding bilateral talks with Brunei’s Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah after having a general audience with the Sultan and the Royal family and in the opening ceremony of Bangladesh-Brunei Business Forum, on the second day of her visit on April 22.

The premier visited the Jame Asr Mosque and offered Asr prayers there and later attended an official banquet hosted in her honour by the Sultan at Istana Nurul Iman on the same day.

On the first day of her visit, she joined a reception accorded to her by Bangladesh community residing in Brunei.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, on the third and final day of her visit, laid the foundation stone of new Chancery Building of Bangladesh High Commission at the Diplomatic Enclave at Jalan Kebangsaan in Brunei capital this (Tuesday) morning.

Later, she visited the Royal Regalia Museum.

Bangladesh and Brunei on April 22 signed seven instruments for strengthening cooperation mainly in the fields of agriculture, fisheries, livestock, culture and sports, and the supply of LNG.

The instruments were signed after the official bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Brunei’s Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah at the Istana Nurul Iman, the official residence of the Sultan of Brunei, here.

The seven instruments – six MoUs and one exchange of notes- are the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Scientific and Technical Cooperation in the Field of Agriculture, the MoU on Cooperation in the Field of Fisheries, the MoU on Cooperation in the Field of Livestock, the MoU on Cultural and Arts Cooperation, the MoU on Cooperation in the Field of Youth and Sports, the MoU on the Field of Cooperation in the Supply of LNG, and the Exchange of Notes on Exemption of Visa for Holders of Diplomatic and Official Passports.

The premier proposed for formation of a regional economic forum involving five Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) member states of South and Southeast Asian region during her talks with Brunei Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah this (Monday) morning.

Briefing reporters after the talks, Foreign Secretary Md Shahidul Haque said the members of the Southeast Asian Cooperation Organisation (SEACO), the proposed regional economic forum, will include Bangladesh and the Maldives from South Asia and Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei from Southeast Asia.

Brunei Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah put emphasis on “just and permanent solution” to the Rohingya crisis during the bilateral talks with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

“We should make all sorts of efforts so that the Rohingyas can return,” Foreign Secretary Md Shahidul Haque quoted the Sultan as saying.

Besides, three business-level instruments were signed in presence of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at the opening ceremony of Bangladesh-Brunei Business Forum at the Hotel Empire and Country Club here on (Monday) afternoon.

The instruments are – an agreement on cooperation between the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) and the National Chamber of Commerce and Industry Brunei Darussalam (NCCIBD) and the MoU on the joint collaboration for provision of professional skills development and training in petroleum geosciences among Dimension Strata Sendirium Berhad of Brunei, Green Power Limited of Bangladesh and Department of Geology of Dhaka University.

The other instrument is – an MoU between Ghanim International Cooperation of Brunei and Nizam Group of Company of Bangladesh.