Dhaka Bureau: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will leave for New York on Sunday to attend the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly. A Biman Bangladesh Airlines VVIP flight carrying the Prime Minister and her entourage will leave Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 9:45 a.m. After a four-hour layover at Heathrow Airport in London, the flight is scheduled to land at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York at 10:50 PM (New York time) on September 17.
Bangladesh Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations Muhammad Abdul Muhith and Bangladesh Ambassador to the United States Muhammad Imran will receive the Prime Minister at the airport. During his stay in New York from September 17 to 22, the Prime Minister will attend the high-level general discussion on the first day of the 78th General Assembly session on September 19 at the General Assembly Hall at UN Headquarters. He will address the General Assembly session on September 22 between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. local time.
The prime minister will also attend a dinner hosted by US President Joe Biden on September 19. Apart from attending the General Assembly session, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will attend several high-level bilateral and courtesy meetings on the Rohingya crisis and climate change, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), universal health, and finance. Earlier, the Foreign Minister gave a press briefing at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. AK Abdul Momen said, “In his speech, the Prime Minister will highlight Bangladesh’s incredible development, progress, inclusive economic progress, and success in the health sector, as well as world peace, security, safe migration, the Rohingya crisis, climate, and justice.” World leaders will gather in New York to attend the 78th session. The theme of this year’s international conference is ‘Rebuilding Trust and Restoring Global Solidarity: Taking Action to Implement the 2030 Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals by Accelerating Peace, Prosperity, Progress, and Sustainability for All’.
The prime minister is expected to deliver a keynote address at a high-level conference on ‘Thinking Food: Collaborating to Accelerate SDGs on Food Supply Chain Innovation’ organized by UNIDO and Deloitte at Rockefeller Center in New York on September 18. On the same day, he will also address another conference titled ‘SDG Summit-Leaders’ Dialogue 4 (Strengthening Integrated Policy and Public Institutions to Achieve the SDGs) at the Trusteeship Council Chamber. In the evening, the Prime Minister delivered a high-level address on the occasion of the UN 2023 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Summit, hosted by the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Global Education and WHO Envoy for Global Health Financing Gordon Brown and Executive Chair of the Global Business Coalition for Education Sarah Brown at the Lexington Venue in New York.
Attend private dinners on stage. On September 19, the Prime Minister will also address a high-level roundtable on ‘Towards a Fair International Financial Architecture’ between the Prime Minister of Spain and the President of the European Council and the European Union (EU) at CR-16 of the UN headquarters. On the same day, Sheikh Hasina will also attend a high-level side event on medical service-based community clinics jointly organized by Bangladesh, Antigua and Barbuda, Bhutan, China, Malaysia, Chatham House, and the Suchana Foundation at the UN Headquarters on CR-11. On September 20.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will be keynote speakers at a high-level discussion at the Trusteeship Council Chamber on Financing for Development (FFD) on ‘Enhancing Affordable and Accessible International Public Financing and Ensuring Efficiency for Sustainable Development’. On the same day, she will attend the Secretary-General’s Climate Ambition Summit, the High-Level Meeting on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness, and Response, the Annual Meeting of the UN Platform for Women Leaders, the High-Level Climate-Based Conference on Climate Ambition, as well as the UN Convention on the Law of Marine Biodiversity in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction.
On September 21, the Prime Minister will attend a high-level side event on the Rohingya crisis hosted by Bangladesh, Canada, Gambia, Malaysia, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States, as well as a breakfast summit on ‘Tackling the threat posed by sea level rise’ and a high-level meeting on universal health coverage. During the visit, the UN Secretary General, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Genocide Adviser to the UN Secretary General, newly elected Director General of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), and Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency will pay a courtesy call on the Prime Minister.
The Bangladesh Prime Minister will hold a bilateral meeting with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe at the UN headquarters. The Prime Minister will leave New York for Washington, DC, at 9 a.m. (New York time) on September 23. He will also be in Washington from September 23 to 29. The Prime Minister will leave Washington, DC, for London on September 29 on a British Airways flight (BA-292) at 10.45 p.m. (Washington time) and London on September 30 at 11 a.m.
