Staff Reporter:
Bangladesh Foreign Affairs Adviser Md. Touhid Hossain attended a preparatory meeting in Doha yester-day ahead of the Emergency Joint Arab-Islamic Summit, convened to address the recent Israeli airstrike on Qatar targeting Hamas leaders.
The meeting was chaired by Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Ab-dulrahman Al Thani, a foreign ministry press release said yesterday.
Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Secretary General Hussein Ibrahim Taha and Arab League Secretary General Ahmed Aboul Gheit delivered keynote addresses at the meeting.
The two-day summit will formally commence today. Qatar, alongside the United States and Egypt, has been acting as a mediator in efforts to resolve the ongoing Israeli conflict in Gaza, where more than 64,800 Palestinians have been killed since October 2023.
The summit is expected to deliberate on a draft resolution concerning the Israeli attack, reflecting a uni-fied position among Arab and Islamic nations.
Adviser Hossain, leading the Bangladesh delegation, arrived in Qatar this morning. He was accompanied by Additional Foreign Secretary M Forhadul Islam, Bangladesh Permanent Representative to the OIC MJH Jabed, and Bangladesh Ambassador to Qatar Mohammad Hazrat Ali Khan.
Earlier this week, Bangladesh unequivocally condemned the Israeli airstrike on Qatar, stressing that such actions violate international law and the UN Charter.
The Foreign Ministry reiterated Bangladesh’s steadfast solidarity with Qatar, underlining the importance of upholding sovereignty and territorial integrity in the region.
