Collected PhotoPrime Minister Tarique Rahman left Dhaka for New York early Monday morning to attend the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
“A Turkish Airlines flight carrying the Prime Minister, his wife Dr Zubaida Rahman and members of his entourage departed Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 6:05am,” PM’s Press Secretary AAM Saleh Shibly told the media.
Additional Press Secretary Atikur Rahman Ruman said the Prime Minister will address the UNGA on September 24, leading a 26-member delegation to New York.
LGRD and Cooperatives Minister Dr Abdul Moyeen Khan, BNP Acting Secretary General Advocate Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, Chief Whip Nurul Islam Moni, Cabinet Secretary Nasimul Gani and PM’s Principal Secretary ABM Abdus Sattar were present at the airport to see him off.
After an eight-hour-45-minute flight, the Turkish Airlines aircraft is scheduled to reach Istanbul Airport at 11:35am (Turkey time). It will leave Istanbul at 2:10pm and arrive at John F Kennedy (JFK) International Airport in New York at 5:55pm (New York time), following a two-hour-35-minute stopover.
The Prime Minister will be received at the airport by Bangladesh’s Permanent Representative to the UN Irene Zubaida Khan and Bangladesh Ambassador to the US Tareq Md Ariful Islam.
He will then be escorted by a motorcade to the Hyatt Grand Central New York, where he will stay during his visit.
Earlier, Foreign Secretary Asad Alam Siam said at a press conference in Dhaka that the Prime Minister will attend a welcome breakfast hosted by UN Secretary-General António Guterres for heads of state and government on September 22.
He will later join world leaders at the opening of the UNGA session and attend a reception hosted by the US president in honour of heads of state and government and their spouses.
On September 23, Tarique Rahman will exchange views with representatives of international charitable and humanitarian organisations at a breakfast meeting.
He will also address a meeting on tackling the global inequality crisis, jointly organised by Brazil, South Africa, Norway and Spain, and attend a high-level meeting on “Climate Action and the Just Transition”, convened at the initiative of the UN secretary-general.
At a side event on the Rohingya crisis the same day, the Prime Minister will seek effective international cooperation for the earliest possible repatriation of forcibly displaced Rohingyas to Myanmar.
At climate-related meetings, he will articulate Bangladesh’s position as a climate-vulnerable country, with emphasis on climate finance, adaptation, technology transfer, loss and damage, and climate justice, the foreign secretary said.
On September 24, the Prime Minister will deliver the opening remarks at a high-level meeting on the existential threats posed by sea-level rise. He will also attend two Bangladesh-hosted side events.
He will address a side event on maternal and newborn health and midwifery as the chief guest, highlighting the new government’s initiatives and future plans to protect maternal and child health and stressing the importance of skilled and professionally trained midwifery services.
On the sidelines of the UNGA, Tarique Rahman is scheduled to hold bilateral meetings with the Crown Prince of Kuwait and the prime ministers of Croatia, Bhutan, Thailand, Pakistan and Haiti.
The talks are expected to cover political and economic relations, trade and investment, development cooperation, the Rohingya crisis and other issues of mutual interest.
The Prime Minister is also scheduled to meet the UN secretary-general, president of the European Council, president of the World Bank Group, UN secretary-general’s special envoy on Myanmar, and the UN high commissioners for refugees and human rights.
He is also expected to meet the president of the International Peace Institute.
As part of the government’s economic diplomacy, the Prime Minister will hold meetings with senior representatives of Meta, Wall Street and several other business organisations.
Tarique Rahman is scheduled to leave New York for Dhaka from JFK International Airport at 11:00pm (New York time) on September 25 by Emirates flight EK202.
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