Pranab Mukherjee plans Bangladesh visit, finance minister to attend Raisina Dialogue

Former Indian president Pranab Mukherjee is likely to come to Bangladesh on a three-day private visit in the middle of January. "Yes, there's a possibility. Most probably in the second week of January," a diplomat told UNB. Though the former president’s programmes are yet to be finalized, he has expressed an interest in visiting the Rohingya camps in Cox's Bazar, the diplomat said. Pranab, who served as the 13th president of India and has been enjoying retirement by reading books and writing a diary, is likely to deliver a speech as the Convocation Speaker at East West University in Dhaka, in addition to other engagements. Meanwhile, Bangladesh Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali will attend the Raisina Dialogue, a multilateral conference committed to addressing the most challenging issues facing the global community, in New Delhi. The third edition of The Raisina Dialogue, titled 'Managing Disruptive Transitions: Ideas, Institutions and Idioms,' will be held at the Taj Diplomatic Enclave in New Delhi from January 16-18. Officials said this year’s theme has been designed to explore the shifting dynamics within the global order: where old relationships need new directions, emerging partnerships face unprecedented constraints and the notions of power and sovereignty are challenged. The Dialogue will foster discussions on the role of institutions, the possibility of collective action and successful responses to these modern developments.