United Nations, UN General Assembly President and Bangladesh Foreign Minister Khalilur Rahman offered no word on whether Prime Minister Tarique Rahman would attend the BRICS Summit in India later this week, after New Delhi invited him to join an outreach session of the grouping.
“I’m not here national capacity, so please forgive me… I will really ask all of you to ask me questions or approach me in my capacity as the President of the General Assembly. If there are bilateral issues, I’m still the Foreign Minister; I’ll speak to you separately,” Rahman said at a press briefing here on Tuesday.
He was responding to a question by PTI on whether the Bangladeshi prime minister would participate in the BRICS summit. Bangladesh’s participation in the summit would be closely watched amid strained ties with India following New Delhi’s decision to provide political asylum to former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who fled to the country after her ouster in a youth-led uprising in August 2024. Rahman assumed charge as President of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, taking over the presidency of the world body’s annual session. Earlier on Tuesday, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in New Delhi that there was no update to share on any confirmation from Dhaka on the Bangladeshi PM’s participation in the BRICS summit.
