PM is set for talks with Singapore premier today

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is set to hold official talks with Singapore premier Lee Hsien Loong today with officials concerned saying the meeting was expected to review the issues of bilateral ties and regional and international affairs like the Rohingya crisis. 

They said the meeting was scheduled to last for nearly an hour at Istana, the Singapore President's official residence cum workplace, which in English means "palace" while ahead of the talks with her counterpart; Sheikh Hasina was set to call on President Halimah Yacob at the same venue. 

The officials said the bilateral talks were expected to conclude with the signing of six memorandums of understanding (MoUs) to be witnessed by the two premiers while one of the deals would be signed between the International Enterprise Singapore and Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) on investment collaboration. 

Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) and Singapore Manufacturing Federation; and Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) and Singapore Manufacturing Federation will sign another two MoUs to strengthen business relations. 

Other MoUs will be signed on public private partnership, expansion of air service agreement, digital leadership, innovation and digital government transformation. 

Later, the Bangladesh prime minister will join a lunch to be hosted in her honour by Lee Hsien at the Banquet Hall of The Istana. 

In the afternoon, she will visit the Port of Singapore Authority (PSA), one of the world's largest port operators, at Alexandra Road here.

Sheikh Hasina arrived here yesterday afternoon on a four-day official visit at her Singapore counterpart's invitation while a VVIP flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines carried the Bangladesh premier along with her entourage members. Singapore Senior Minister of State of the Ministry of Environment and Water Resources and the Ministry of Health Dr Amy Khor and Bangladesh High Commissioner to Singapore Md Mostafizur Rahman received the prime minister at the airport, from where a ceremonial motorcade escorted her to Shangri-La Hotel where she will be staying during the visit.

Source: bss