PM in New York for UN General Assembly

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has arrived in New York to attend the 76th United Nations General Assembly.

A VVIP Biman Bangladesh chartered flight carrying the prime minister and her entourage arrived in New York at 5:40 pm local time at John F Kennedy International Airport on Sunday, according to her Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim.

The prime minister was met by Rabab Fatima, Bangladesh’s permanent representative to the UN, and M Shahidul Islam, the Bangladesh ambassador to the US, reports bdnews24.com.

Hasina was accompanied by Minister of Foreign Affairs AK Abdul Momen, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam, Secretary of Foreign Affairs Masud Bin Momen and Secretary to the Prime Minister’s Office Md Tofazzel Hossain Miah. 

On Friday, the prime minister left Dhaka for a two-day stopover in Finland before heading to New York.

The prime minister will be in the US for a two-week visit before returning home on Oct 1.

Hasina will attend the UNGA and other high-profile events from Sept 19-23. She will deliver a speech at the UNGA on Sept 24.

She is scheduled to join a high-level meeting on climate change in New York on Sept 20 at the invitation of her British counterpart Boris Johnson and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

She will also plant a sapling at the UN Headquarters the same day to mark the birth centenary of Bangladesh’s founding father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

The same day, the prime minister is likely to join a virtual event titled ‘Sustainable Development Solution Network’.

On Sept 21, Hasina will join the inaugural session of the general debate in the UN Headquarters. She is likely to join the event ‘Business Roundtable: US-Bangladesh Business Council’ that day.

The prime minister is expected to join a high-profile meeting marking the 20th anniversary of the ‘Durban Declaration and Programme of Action’ on Sept 22. She will later address the ‘White House Global COVID-19 Summit: Ending the Pandemic and Building Back Better’.

She is scheduled to join an event on imperatives for a sustainable solution to the Rohingya crisis on the sidelines of the UNGA the same day.

Hasina will attend another event titled ‘UN Common Agenda: Action to Achieve Equality and Inclusion’ on Sept 23. 

She is expected to hold bilateral meetings with Maldives President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, Vietnam President Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley, UN chief Guterres, European Council President Charles Michael and many other leaders in New York.

The prime minister is scheduled to have a meeting with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and EU Council President Charles Michel.

About 80 officials and a delegation of business representatives are in her entourage for the journey. She will also take a personal trip to Washington, DC before returning home on Oct 1.

The prime minister attended the UNGA virtually last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.