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Mahathir touches down today on high-profile visit

Staff Correspondent
Mahathir Mohamad, the former prime minister of Malaysia and the architect of its rapid rise as an Asian economic power, touches down in Dhaka this afternoon with a 50-member delegation to attend the inaugural session of the Bangladesh-Malaysia Business Forum (BMBF) 2004.
The world-renowned figure will meet with Prime Minister Khaleda Zia tomorrow and later address the
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Bangladesh-Malaysia Business Forum (BMBF) 200-1, organised by the Bangladesh-Malaysia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BMCCT), as well as a roundtable on Islam the same day.
During his stay here, Mahathir is likely to pursue a proposal for a free trade agreement (FTA) that he broached earlier at the 10th summit of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (QIC) held in Malaysia inOctobcr2003.
He will present his case at the BMBF's first plenary session in a keynote speech titled 'Malaysia 2020 - from Vision to Reality,' which is expected to be broadcast live by the state-run television channel BTV
Mahathir and members of the high-profile business team are also expected to visit various industries in the exclusive export processing zones.
Three memoranda of understanding (MoUs) will be signed during the two-day forum to promote bilateral trade and investment.
During his stay, Mahathir will also attend the 42nd general convocation at Dhaka University, where he will receive an honorary doctorate of lawdegree tomorrow afternoon.
Mahathir is also scheduled to
attend an official lunch hosted by Foreign Minister M Morshed Khan and a BMBF gala banquet rllriner,. bothscheduled for tomorrow.
Former president HM Ershad is scheduled to call on Mahathir on Sunday, before he departs at 10:00am thatday.
Mahathir is expected to fly in at 5:OOpm and will be received by Morshed. He will be seen off by both Morshed and Commerce Minister Altaf Hossain Choudhury.
Manpower export from Bangladesh to Malaysia has been delayed because of the introduction of identity cards for, workers and other reasons. Malaysia had taken some three lakh workers from Bangladesh from 1986 to 1996.
The Malaysian government recently agreed to give extension to some 1,13,000 Bangladeshi workers overstaying there. Around 1.13 lakh Bangladeshis are now working in Malaysia with valid documents. Job tenure of the workers has been extended to September2007.
Bangladesh signed an MoU was signed with Malaysia on October 22 last year to resume recruitment of fresh workers, which is yet to take effect as the Malaysian authorities arestillnotready.