FM leaves for Saudi Arabia to attend OIC meeting

FM leaves for Saudi Arabia to attend OIC meeting

Foreign Minister Dr Khalilur Rahman has departed Dhaka for Saudi Arabia. He left on Wednesday, February 25, marking his first overseas visit since assuming office.

During the visit, he will participate in the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) foreign ministers' meeting in Jeddah, convened to discuss the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Foreign Ministry officials said Prime Minister's Foreign Affairs Adviser Humayun Kabir is accompanying him on the visit.

An emergency meeting of the OIC's open-ended executive committee at foreign ministers' level has been organised at the OIC General Secretariat in Jeddah on Thursday, February 26. The meeting will discuss recent decisions by the Israeli occupation authorities, which concerned parties note are encouraging settlement expansion, annexation and attempts to impose Israeli sovereignty over the occupied West Bank.

The OIC has stated that the emergency session will coordinate member states' positions and discuss potential action plans against Israel's illegal steps.

Israel recently declared some lands in the occupied West Bank as 'state property' and initiated settlement processes there. This step is viewed as part of broader efforts to alter the legal, political and demographic status of occupied Palestinian territory. Concerned analysts suggest this risks undermining the viability of a two-state solution.