PM leaves Dhaka to join 73rd UNGA

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina left Dhaka for London Friday morning en route to New York on a weeklong official visit to the United States to attend the 73rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).

A VVIP flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines carrying the premier took off from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 10:20am, reports BSS.

Finance minister AMA Muhith, industries minister Amir Hossain Amu, road transport and bridges minister Obaidul Quader, civil aviation and tourism minister AKM Shahjahan Kamal, PM’s adviser HT Imam, Jatiya Sangsad chief whip ASM Feroze, the cabinet secretary, the chiefs of the three services and high civil and military officials were present at the airport to see the premier off.

The flight is scheduled to reach Heathrow Airport in London at 3:55pm local time today.

Bangladesh high commissioner to the UK Nazmul Qaunine will receive the premier at the airport.

The prime minister will address the 73rd Session of the UN General Assembly at the UN Headquarters in New York in the evening (local time) on 27 September and hold a meeting with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on the same day.

On the sidelines of the UNGA, she will also hold bilateral meetings with a number of world leaders, including Estonian president Kersti Kaljulaid and Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte.

Sheikh Hasina will attend a Welcome Reception to be hosted by US president Donald Trump, while US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is expected to call on her.

This year’s theme of the general debate is ‘Making the United Nations relevant to all people: Global leadership and shared responsibilities for peaceful, equitable and sustainable societies’.

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina will place some specific proposals at the UNGA in continuation of her previous five-point proposal for resolving the Rohingya crisis, foreign minister AH Mahmood Ali told a press conference at the ministry on Thursday.

After making nearly two-day stopover in the British capital, the prime minister will leave London for New York on Sunday morning by a British Airways flight.

The flight is scheduled to reach Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey, at 1:40pm local time.

Bangladesh ambassador to the USA Mohammad Ziauddin and Bangladesh ambassador and permanent representative to the UN Masud Bin Momen will welcome the premier at the airport.

After the reception at the airport, a ceremonial motorcade will escort the prime minister to Hotel Grand Hyatt New York, where she will be staying during her visit to the USA.

On the first day of her visit to the USA, Sheikh Hasina will attend a reception to be accorded to her by the Bangladesh community in the United States at Hotel New York Hilton Midtown in the evening.

Apart from the Rohingya issue, the prime minister will also discuss world peace, safe migration, the rights of Palestine people, women empowerment and climate change, the foreign minister said.

“She will also present Bangladesh’s different socioeconomic advancements, including establishment of digital Bangladesh and the country’s ongoing democratic process to world leaders,” he said.

During the UNGA, Mahmood Ali said, prime minister Sheikh Hasina will receive two awards.

He said Inter Press Service (IPS), a global news agency, will give its prestigious ‘International Achievement Award’ to prime minister Sheikh Hasina for her dynamic and farsighted leadership in addressing Rohingya crisis while Global Hope Coalition will confer her ‘2018 Special Recognition for Outstanding Leadership Award’.

The prime minister will return home in the morning on 1 October via London, PM’s press secretary said.