Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen and British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs Dominic Raab are scheduled to hold their official meeting in London on Thursday to chart a post-Brexit and post-Covid new strategic partnership vision. "The official bilateral talks will be a historic occasion as the Bangladesh and UK Foreign Ministers will be meeting in London for the first time during the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between our two friendly countries," said Bangladesh High Commissioner to the UK and Ireland Saida Muna Tasneem. Britain was one of the first countries in Europe to recognise Bangladesh’s independence on Feb 4, 1972. Read:Int'l support architecture for Asia-Pacific LDCs need of the hour: Momen The visit of Dr Momen is also highly significant as it would provide an opportunity to set the tone for Bangladesh CVF Presidency’s high-level participation in the upcoming COP26 scheduled in Glasgow in early November under UK’s Presidency, said High Commissioner Tasneem.  Return of the Rohingyas back to Myanmar and regional security issues will also feature in the discussions, said the High Commissioner.  The Foreign Minister is due to discuss the entire gamut of bilateral issues with the UK Foreign Secretary from post-Brexit trade relations, Bangladesh-UK new economic partnership vision to post-covid vaccine cooperation and lifting Bangladesh out of UK’s travel red list.  Bangladeshi-British diaspora and work opportunities of skilled professionals from Bangladesh would also feature high in the talks, said the envoy. On his arrival on Wednesday, the Foreign Minister will be received by High CommissionerTasneem at the Heathrow Airport. Prior to the bilateral talks with the UK Foreign Minister, Dr Momen will also have a bilateral meeting with COP26 President Alok Sharma at 9 Downing Street to discuss the COP26 agenda for Bangladesh with a particular focus on loss and damage and the proposed CVF-COP26 Leaders’ Summit under Bangladesh Presidency. Read: Momen-Raab talks in London soon with focus on boosting ties Apart from the official meetings, the Foreign Minister will deliver a climate talk on “Forging a CVF-COP26 Climate Solidarity” at the UK's leading think tank Chatham House, organized jointly by Bangladesh High Commission and Chatham House.  The event will also be attended by Maldives Speaker and former President and CVF Thematic Ambassador for Ambition Mohamed Nasheed along with a number of CVF Ambassadors and High Commissioners and climate experts. The Minister will deliver a keynote speech on “Bangladesh-UK at 50:Towards a post-Brexit, post-Covid Economic Vision” at a high-profile business dialogue with British and British-Bangladesh chambers, including three mainstream chambers- British Chambers of Commerce, London Chamber  of Commerce and Industry and Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council.  Bangladesh High Commission in collaboration with British-Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BBCCI) is organising the event.  Dedicating to the philosophy of peace and non-violence of Bangladesh’s Founding Father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and marking his birth centenary, the Foreign Minister is expected to inaugurate a peace grove in central London.  Read: FM to attend series of programs in Switzerland, Netherlands Dr Momen will visit the Bangladesh High Commission when he will officially inaugurate the Bangabandhu Library, the Centennial Portrait of Bangabandhu, the Bangabandhu Consular Week and the extended premises of Bangladesh High Commission at 27 Queens’ Gate.  He will also participate in an interactive dialogue with Bangladeshi young talented students from UK’s eminent universities.  During his UK visit, Dr Momen is expected to meet some British MPs and dignitaries at official and civic receptions and join community events, including the NRB Foundation and CAP Foundation programmes, to exchange views with expatriate Bangladeshis from the UK and Europe. 

Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen will have a meeting with his British counterpart Dominic Raab in London in between his visit to Switzerland and the Netherlands, and discuss ways to further strengthen the relations between the two Commonwealth countries -- Bangladesh and the United Kingdom. Dr Momen said Bangladesh High Commissioner in London Saida Muna Tasneem informed him that there has been no meeting with the British Foreign Minister for a long time and Dominic Raab has already given an appointment to sit in a meeting in London. “I’ll also have a separate meeting with Alok Sharma (President of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in London,” the Foreign Minister told UNB. “Things are being finalized,” he said, mentioning that he will visit London in between his visit to Switzerland and the Netherlands. Dr Momen will also attend programmes like a meeting with businesspeople during his busy stay in London, a senior official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told UNB. He will leave here on Sunday morning beginning his tri-nation visit, said the official.  The UK will host the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow on October 31 to November 12. Apart from the bilateral issues, vaccine cooperation and removing Bangladesh from the red list (for entering England amid the pandemic) are likely to be discussed, said a diplomatic source. Read: See your own face in mirror before advising Bangladesh: Dhaka to London Bangladesh finds no justified reason to see it on the red list as the Covid-19 situation is not that much bad compared to other countries which are not on the red list, said an official. If anyone from a red listed country enters the UK, he or she must book a quarantine hotel and coronavirus (Covid-19) tests which is quite expensive.

Iran is expected to be a key topic in talks Monday between U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his host in London, British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab. The two envoys donned face masks and fist-pumped before heading into the talks, a day ahead of the Group of Seven leading industrial nations’ first face-to-face discussions in two years, involving foreign and development ministers. The U.K. holds this year’s G-7 presidency. Blinken’s visit to London, his first since being appointed by President Joe Biden, comes amid mounting speculation of a prisoner exchange deal with Iran. Prisoner exchanges are not uncommon and were a feature of the 2015 nuclear accord between Iran and the world’s leading powers. Biden has indicated he is looking to restart nuclear talks with Tehran after his predecessor, Donald Trump, pulled the U.S. out of the agreement. Also read: US denies Iran claims of prisoner deal; UK plays it down In Britain, there’s particular interest in the well-being of a British-Iranian woman, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who was last week sentenced in Iran to an additional year in prison on charges of spreading “propaganda against the system.” British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said his government is doing what it can amid reports in Iran that Britain would pay a 400 million-pound ($550 million) debt to secure Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s release. “We, of course, make sure that we do everything we can to look after the interests of Nazanin and all the very difficult dual national cases we have in Tehran,” he said. Earlier Monday, Blinken held bilateral talks with Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi on an array of subjects including the coronavirus pandemic and the climate crisis, as well as raising concerns over North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs. On Tuesday, the full G-7 — Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the U.K. and the U.S. — will meet along with representatives from other countries, including Australia, India and South Africa. Ahead of the gathering, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas warned that “authoritarian states” around the world are “trying to play us against each other” and that breaches of international law have become commonplace. Also read: Progress noted at diplomats’ talks on Iran nuclear deal “It is important that we hold our values of democracy, state of law, human rights and a global order based on rules against them, united and credibly,” he said. Before the meeting, Britain’s Foreign Office said the G-7 ministers will invest $15 billion in development finance over the next two years to help women in developing countries access jobs, build resilient businesses and recover from the coronavirus pandemic. They are also expected to sign up to new targets to get 40 million more girls into school and 20 million more girls reading by the age of 10 in poorer nations by 2026.