Swiss president due on Sunday

President of Switzerland Alain Berset will arrive in Dhaka tomorrow on a three-day official visit. Alain Berset is making the visit to "express solidarity with Bangladesh, which is severely affected by the crisis in neighbouring Myanmar." The aim of the visit, the first by a Swiss president, is also to establish "closer bilateral relations" with Bangladesh, according to a Swiss embassy statement. During the visit, Berset will hold official talks with his Bangladesh counterpart Md Abdul Hamid. He will also hold a meeting with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali is likely to meet the Swiss president. During the official talks, the two countries will discuss ways to further strengthen economic and cultural cooperation along with underscoring the current status of bilateral relations. "Solidarity with Bangladesh in the Rohingya crisis and cooperation in multilateral fora will be the major focus of the talks," the statement said. On Tuesday, Berset will visit the Kutupalong Rohingya camp in Cox's Bazar district where Switzerland is providing humanitarian aid to the forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals, who took shelter there since last August following violence in Myanmar's Rakhine state. During his stay in Bangladesh, the Swiss president will also meet members of the civil society, Swiss businesses active in Bangladesh, and will visit Dhaka Art Summit of which the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia is a partner. Switzerland and Bangladesh enjoy longstanding relations in the area of development cooperation. The bilateral economic relations are growing between the two countries. The volume of trade between the two countries has more than doubled since 2010.