Belgium’s Queen Mathilde arrives in Dhaka

Mathilde, the queen of Belgium, arrived in Dhaka on Monday morning on a three-day visit to Bangladesh in her capacity as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) advocate, and an envoy of UN secretary general Antonio Gutteres.

A jet, carrying the queen, landed at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at around 9:30 in the morning.

Foreign minister AK Abdul Momen received Queen Mathilde at the airport.

As an envoy of UN secretary general Antonio Gutteres, Queen Mathilde will measure and support the progress made in Bangladesh in the areas of girls’ education, women’s economic empowerment, the fight against domestic violence and mental health.

She also will visit a Rohingya camp in Kutupalong, the largest refugee camp in the world, which hosts more than a million Rohingya people.

As one of the 17 SDG advocates of the UN, she will visit projects in Dhaka and Khulna district. The SDG advocates are 17 inspiring, influential people raising global awareness of the SDGs and the need for accelerated action.

Queen Mathilde (Mathilde Marie Christine Ghislaine d’Udekem d’Acoz) will meet president Abdul Hamid and prime minister Sheikh Hasina, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The foreign minister is scheduled to organise a dinner in honour of queen Mathilde.