Prime Minister Tarique Rahman left Dhaka for New York early today 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 other members of his entourage departed Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 6:05am, Prime Minister’s Press Secretary AAM Saleh Shibly told BSS.

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Additional Press Secretary Atikur Rahman Ruman said the prime minister is scheduled to address the UNGA on September 24, leading a 26-member delegation.

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.

The flight is scheduled to reach Istanbul Airport at 11:35am Turkey time after an eight-hour-45-minute journey. It will leave Istanbul at 2:10pm and arrive at John F Kennedy International Airport in New York at 5:55pm local time after a two-hour-35-minute stopover.

Bangladesh’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York Irene Zubaida Khan and Ambassador to the United States Tareq Md Ariful Islam are scheduled to receive the prime minister at the airport. He will then be taken to the Hyatt Grand Central New York, where he will stay during his visit.

According to Foreign Secretary Asad Alam Siam, the prime minister will begin his UNGA engagements on September 22 by attending a welcome breakfast hosted by UN Secretary-General António Guterres for heads of state and government.

He will later join world leaders at the opening of the session and attend a reception hosted by the US president for heads of state and government and their spouses.

On September 23, Tarique will exchange views with representatives of international charitable and humanitarian organisations at a breakfast meeting before addressing a meeting on tackling the global inequality crisis, jointly organised by Brazil, South Africa, Norway and Spain.

He will also attend a high-level meeting on “Climate Action and the Just Transition”, convened at the initiative of the UN secretary-general.

At a Bangladesh-hosted side event on the Rohingya crisis the same day, he will seek greater international cooperation for the earliest possible repatriation of forcibly displaced Rohingyas to Myanmar.

At the climate-related meetings, the prime minister is expected to highlight Bangladesh’s position as a climate-vulnerable country, with emphasis on climate finance, adaptation, technology transfer, loss and damage, and climate justice.

On September 24, Tarique 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, including one on maternal and newborn health and midwifery, where he will be the chief guest.

At the event, he is expected to highlight the government’s initiatives and future plans to protect maternal and child health and stress the importance of skilled and professionally trained midwives.

On the sidelines of the UNGA, the prime minister 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.

He is also scheduled to meet UN Secretary-General António Guterres, the president of the European Council, the president of the World Bank Group, the 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.

The prime minister is scheduled to leave New York for Dhaka from JFK International Airport at 11:00pm local time on September 25 on Emirates flight EK202.

Sun News/ rabbi