Covid pandemic and Rohingya issues will be the main priorities for Bangladesh in the upcoming 76th session of the UN General Assembly.
These issues will be also highlighted in the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s speech, which will be delivered to the UNGA on September 24 .
PM will start for the USA to join the session on Friday for a two week tour. This will be her first foreign trip since the pandemic started in Bangladesh. She will make a stopover in Helsinki from where she will start for New York on September 19.
Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen said this while briefing the press on prime minister’s UN trip. Sheikh Hasina will arrive New York on September 19, to join the session, which will start on September 21.
In her address the prime minister will also urge the world to ensure equal access to the Covid vaccines.
Post Covid recovery and fighting the pandemic will be the major point of discussion in the UNGA this year. Besides climate change will also be featured in the UNGA debates, Dr Momen added.
During the pandemic, discrimination among nations was widely evident particularly in case of vaccine distribution. So this issue will also be discussed widely, he noted.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will take part in a high level meeting on climate change on September 20 in the sideline where she will brief the world leaders about the steps taken by Bangladesh in addressing the climate change challenges.
On the same day she is expected to plant a seedlings at the premises of the UN to mark the birth centenary of Bangabandhu, the minister said.
“On September 22 the prime minister will address a meeting titled White House Global Covid-19 Summit, which will be organised by the United States,” Dr Momen said adding that on the same day she is expected to address a high level conference on Rohingya issue.
OIC, EU and ASEAN countries gave positive response about this conference .
We want to convey the world that since the beginning of the crisis, five years had passed but we failed to repatriate a single Rohngya to their home in Myanmar, the minister said.
Prime minsietr will visit Washington from New York on September 25.
She will leave Washington for Dhaka on September 30 and will reach home on October 01.