Kolkata: Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s daughter Saima Wazed is accompanying her mother during her trip to India to attend the G20 summit, Bangladeshi officials said.
The appearance of Saima Wazed at a second high profile international event after a trip with Bangladesh’s President Mohammed Shahabuddin to Indonesia earlier this week to attend the Asean summit where her candidature for a WHO post was announced to a global audience, has also sparked speculation that she may in time be given a larger political role in the ruling Awami League.
Sheikh Hasina will be inaugurating a rail link with Tripura and the second unit of the Rampal power plant along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, virtually from Delhi at functions on the sideline of the G20 meet.
She will also sign several agreements including a deal which will facilitate a Rupee-Taka card for citizens of both countries to pay in local currency instead of in dollars while travelling to the other.
Saima Wazed will be in Delhi during the G20 talks,” a top official of the Bangladesh foreign ministry confirmed.
The question of a succession plan in Awami League has long been thought about. We believe that it will be done in a democratic manner, but democracy does not eliminate familial ties that a person may have with a political party,” said Ambassador Sarvajit Chakravarti, who has served two stints in Dhaka and is currently associated with a think tank Ceners-K.
The G20 summit which will be held in New Delhi over the coming weekend will be attended by most of the top leaders of the world.
This is possibly the first time Sheikh Hasina’s daughter will be by her mother’s side during an official visit to India, and analysts believe this to be significant in many ways.
Wazed, an autism expert who is standing for election as regional director for South-East Asia Region (SEARO) at World Health Organization (WHO), will be looking for India, one of 11 countries in the region, to endorse her.
