Dhaka will host of the 45th Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) of the Organisation for Islamic Cooperation (OIC) next year.
The decision came at the 44th CFM of OIC, being held in Abidjan, the economic capital of Ivory Coast.
"This came as the recognition of Bangladesh's active and constructive role and growing importance in the OIC," a foreign ministry press release said.
Foreign Minister A H Mahmood Ali is leading a Bangladesh delegation to the 44th CFM of OIC in Abidjan, which was inaugurated by Cote d'Ivoirian President Alassane Ouatara on Monday.
At the council, Bangladesh proposal to host the high profile conference after nearly three decades and a half received a full support from member states.
With this, the country has become a part of the OIC Troika and an influential member of the important 8-member OIC Executive Committee for the next three years.
Foreign Minister Ali thanked the member states for giving this honour to the people of Bangladesh and reposing confidence in the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Foreign Ministers of a large number of member states and representatives of observer states, various OIC institutions and international organizations attended the 44th Council.
The theme for this year's Council was 'Youth, Peace and Development in a World of Solidarity' while the Abidjan CFM stressed the importance of peace, development and Islamic solidarity with greater participation and role of the youth, who constitute the majority of the Muslim Ummah.
Ali made a statement in the Council meeting when he underscored the need for solidarity and unity of the Islamic world and for leaving differences behind.
He also stressed the need for making use of abundant resources of the Islamic world and pursue a course of faster development as development solves many problems.
He suggested greater intra-OIC trade and investment and made a call for implementing preferential trade and FTAs towards reaching the ultimate goal of an Islamic Common Market, the idea that Bangladesh mooted years ago.
The foreign minister also underlined the importance of sharing best practices and expressed Bangladesh's readiness to share its success stories in the areas of development and poverty alleviation, inter-faith harmony, peace keeping and peace building, women's empowerment, containing terrorism and radicalization, health and education.
The Bangladesh delegation includes Foreign Secretary Md Shahidul Haque and Bangladesh Ambassador to Saudi Arabia and PR to OIC Golam Moshi as well as officers from the Foreign Ministry and Bangladesh Mission in Riyadh.
Source: BSS