DHAKA, Feb 2, 2024 (BSS) - Foreign minister Dr Hasan Mahmud today held 
separate bilateral meetings with his Belgian, Czech, Swedish, Vietnamese 
counterparts on the sideline of 3rd Indo-Pacific Ministerial Forum being held 
in Brussels. 

During the meeting with Belgium Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Affairs 
and Foreign Trade Hadja Lahbib, Mahmud thanked her government to provide 
continuous support in the development journey of Bangladesh, a foreign 
ministry press release said here.  

Lahbib expressed keen interest to further strengthen the bilateral relations 
between Bangladesh and Belgium. 

Vietnamese foreign minister Bui Thanh Son handed over Vietnam Prime Minister 
Pham Minh Chinh’s formal invitation to Bangladesh premier Sheikh Hasina for 
paying an official bilateral visit to Hanoi.   

At the meeting, the Vietnamese foreign minister also invited Mahmud to visit 
Hanoi to further strengthen the 50 year-long friendly relations between 
Bangladesh and Vietnam.    
        
Mahmud also held bilateral talks with Czech Republic foreign minister Jan 
Lipavský and Swedish foreign minister Tobias Billström.    

During the separate meetings, Bangladesh foreign minister discussed on the way 
how to further expand trade and investment cooperation with all the four 
countries. 

Noting that repartition of the forcefully displaced people to Rakhine is the 
only solution of the Rohingya crisis, Mahmud urged all the nations to mount 
pressure on Myanmar regarding the matter.  

The foreign minister will return to Dhaka Sunday evening.

High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice 
President of the European Commission Josep Borrell chaired the forum.

The EU Indo-Pacific Ministerial Forum brought together the EU and its Member 
States with countries from the East coast of Africa in the West to the Pacific 
islands in the East.