PM Hasina leaves Washington for home

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina addresses the 76th United Nations General Assembly in New York on 24 September 2021
File photo

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina left Washington for home on Friday night wrapping up her two-week official tour to attend the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).

A VVIP chartered flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines carrying Sheikh Hasina and her entourage took off Dulles International Airport, Washington for Dhaka at 5:28pm (Washington time), PM’s press secretary Ihsanul Karim told news agency UNB.

He said that Bangladesh ambassador to the US M Shahidul Islam and permanent representative to the UN Rabab Fatima saw the prime minister off at the airport.

The aircraft carrying the prime minister will reach Helsinki-Vantaa Airport on Friday morning (local time) and then the flight will depart the airport for Dhaka after a two-hour stopover there.

The aircraft is scheduled to land at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 10:15pm on Friday (local time).

On 17 September, the prime minister left Dhaka to attend the 76th UNGA. She reached New York on 19 September after a two-day stopover in Finland.

During her stay in New York from 19 to 24 September, Sheikh Hasina addressed the UNGA general debate (on 24 September), attended high-level events and bilateral talks with heads of governments, states and organisations.

She also planted a honey locust tree and unveiled a bench at the UN gardens dedicating these to Bangladesh’s founding father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on the occasion of his birth centenary.

Later, the prime minister went to Washington DC on 25 September.

During her stay in Washington, Sheikh Hasina opened the newly constructed ‘Bangladesh House’ and planted a tree on its premise.