French President Macron snubs Bangladesh's Yunus, forcing trip cancellation

French President Emmanuel Macron has refused a bilateral format meeting with Bangladesh interim adviser Md Yunus on the sidelines of an international conference next month, a decision that is being seen as a setback for Yunus' global outreach.

Yunus was all set to visit France to attend the Third United Nations Ocean Conference, and Dhaka had requested a meeting between Yunus and Macron on the sidelines of the conference.

However, France was not accepting the proposal for that meeting following which Yunus' visit to France had to be cancelled, hinted persons familiar with the matter.


The conference is going to be held in Nice, France from June 9. The French president plans to host a dinner for the participants on June 8.

Sources from Dhaka informed that after receiving the invitation from France, Bangladesh made huge efforts to arrange a bilateral meeting between Macron and Yunus. Paris informed that many countries interested in attending the conference have already requested a bilateral meeting, indicating that there was no scope for another bilateral meeting.

France has informed that it does not want to combine bilateral meetings with the conference and was keen for Yunus to attend the ocean meet. Yunus, on his part, has been desperate to meet world leaders to garner support for his regime.

Sources speaking on the condition of anonymity indicated France was keen to understand the desired outcome of the bilateral meeting and did not want a mere meeting just for the sake of it. Bangladesh had earlier expressed interest in buying civilian aircraft from France but there has been no progress on that.

Bangladesh may now be represented by some other official at the ocean meet.