Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is likely to attend the 18th G20 Summit which will take place in New Delhi on September 9-10 this year.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has invited her Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina to attend the Summit.
India, which holds the Presidency of the G20 from 1 December 2022 to 30 November 2023, has invited Bangladesh as a “guest country” in its all meetings, spokesperson at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Seheli Sabrin told reports at a weekly briefing on Thursday.
Bangladesh sees its series of engagements with the Group of Twenty (G20) under India’s Presidency this year as a “big honour” for the country.
“We will raise our issues there. It is a big honour for us. We should be prudent,” Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen told reporters at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs recently, noting that Bangladesh is the only South Asian country invited by the host.
The Group of Twenty (G20) is the premier forum for international economic cooperation, which plays an “important role” in shaping and strengthening global architecture and governance on all major international economic issues.
India has invited Bangladesh, Egypt, Mauritius, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Oman, Singapore, Spain and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as guest countries to its meetings and summit, according to the Ministry of External Affairs, India.
Apart from the G20 leaders, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Saeed Hussein Khalil El-Sisi, Mauritian Prime Minister Pravind Kumar Jugnauth, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, Oman Head of State Sultan Haitham bin Tarik, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan have been invited to the G20 Summit.
Meanwhile, Momen will attend the G20 foreign ministers' meeting in New Delhi on March 1-2.
Hasina paid a state visit to India from September 5 to 8 last year at the invitation of her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi.
Read more: Being invited to G20 Summit is a big honour for Bangladesh, says Momen
Ahead of the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister’s visits, Vinay Kwatra will be in Dhaka in the third week of February to have bilateral talks with his Bangladesh counterpart Masud Bin Momen, said a diplomatic source.
Kwatra assumed charge as foreign secretary on May 1 last year.
The Group of Twenty (G20) comprises 19 countries - Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Türkiye, United Kingdom and United States and the European Union.
The G20 members represent around 85% of the global GDP, over 75% of the global trade, and about two-thirds of the world population.