Dhaka sees no risk in Bangladesh’s inclusion in Mecca Defence Pact: Foreign state minister

State Minister for Foreign Affairs Humayun Kabir has informed that Saudi Arabia and Turkey have shown positive attitude regarding Bangladesh’s inclusion in the Mecca Defence Pact. He has also commented that Dhaka does not see any risk for the time being in Bangladesh’s participation in this pact.

The foreign state minister said these in reply to various questions of journalists on Sunday (August 30). Highlighting the government’s position on Bangladesh’s possible participation in the pact he said Saudi Arabia and Turkey are considering the matter positively.

Humayun Kabir said they do not think any kind of risk will be created for the country if Bangladesh joins the Mecca Defence Pact. He also informed that communication and discussion with the concerned countries are continuing on this matter.

On the other hand the foreign state minister also spoke about Bangladesh’s current relations with China. He said Dhaka’s relations with Beijing have now reached the highest level of strategic position. Diplomatic and defence dialogue between the two countries is scheduled to start soon as part of further strengthening the bilateral relations.

However Humayun Kabir informed that the date of that proposed dialogue has not been fixed yet. He said discussions are going on between the two sides regarding the organization of the dialogue and it will be informed when the schedule is finalized.

Meanwhile in reply to such a question of the journalists whether he has dual citizenship the foreign state minister said briefly, ‘I am a Bangladeshi.’