Prime Minister Tarique Rahman will not travel to New Delhi to attend the upcoming BRICS summit in India, Foreign Affairs State Minister Humayun Kabir has said.
Kabir made the disclosure to journalists on Thursday (10 August) outside an international seminar on the Rohingya issue at the Foreign Service Academy in Dhaka. The information was subsequently confirmed in a statement issued by the BNP media cell.
The 18th BRICS summit is scheduled to take place in New Delhi on 12 and 13 September, with India serving as the host country. Tarique Rahman’s possible attendance had generated considerable discussion in recent days, particularly over whether Bangladesh would be represented at the high-level gathering.
Indian authorities had also indicated on several occasions that they had received no fresh confirmation regarding the Bangladeshi prime minister’s participation.
Clarifying the nature of the invitation, Kabir said Tarique Rahman had been invited to the BRICS summit in his capacity as chair of BIMSTEC, rather than as Bangladesh’s prime minister. He stressed that the invitation was extended to him in connection with his regional role and was not an invitation to attend in his capacity as head of the Bangladeshi government.
Bangladesh is not a member of BRICS. However, the country currently holds the chairmanship of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation, or BIMSTEC, a regional grouping involving countries around the Bay of Bengal. In that capacity, the prime minister had been invited by New Delhi to participate in an outreach session of the BRICS summit.
Despite receiving the invitation, Tarique Rahman will not attend the event. Kabir also confirmed that Bangladesh will not send any representative to the BRICS summit.
The decision comes after several days of uncertainty surrounding the prime minister’s possible visit to India. The state minister’s remarks have now clarified that Tarique Rahman will not make the trip to New Delhi for the BRICS gathering and that Bangladesh will have no official representation at the summit.
Kabir also addressed the possibility of a separate visit by the prime minister to India. He said Tarique Rahman would undertake a bilateral visit to the country when circumstances become favourable.
The distinction between the BRICS invitation and a potential bilateral visit is significant. While the current invitation was linked to Bangladesh’s chairmanship of BIMSTEC and participation in the summit’s outreach session, a bilateral visit would be conducted separately and could focus on issues concerning relations between Bangladesh and India.
For now, however, the government has decided not to participate in the New Delhi summit. The announcement removes the uncertainty that had surrounded Tarique Rahman’s possible attendance and establishes that neither the prime minister nor a Bangladeshi delegation will take part in this year’s BRICS summit.
