The foreign ministers of France and Germany arrive in Dhaka today on a joint one-day visit.
Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali said this was the first joint visit by the foreign ministers of the two countries to Bangladesh. “This is an historic visit.”
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius and German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier are scheduled to arrive at Dhaka airport in the morning where they will be received by the foreign minister.
“This trip can be described as support for Bangladesh, which is fighting against climate change,” Mahmood Ali said.
France and Germany strongly support climate change-affected countries and Bangladesh is the most vulnerable country among them, he said.
The visiting ministers want to see how the Bangladeshi people cope with the effects of climate change, he added.
The visiting foreign ministers will visit German cooperation projects and anti-cyclone shelters, and meet with local people in Patuakhali district.
The visiting ministers are scheduled to have a working lunch with Mahmood Ali and to pay a courtesy call on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the afternoon.
“During my bilateral trip to Paris [this year], the French minister proposed the visit and I instantly accepted it,” Mahmood said.
Germany and France have close ties to Bangladesh and supported the country in the Liberation War of 1971, he added.
The visiting foreign ministers will inaugurate the new Franco German Embassy in the capital’s Baridhara neighbourhood during their visit.
Dhaka is home to the first joint Franco German embassy in the world.