PM reaches Geneva

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina reached Geneva yesterday afternoon leading a 44-member Bangladesh delegation to attend a five-day UN-sponsored international meet on climate change.
On her arrival at the airport to attend the World Climate Conference-3, State Councillor of Geneva Canton Francois Longchamp received the PM.
Chief of Protocol of UN Office in Geneva Sergei Shaposhnokov, Deputy Chief of Protocol of Geneva Canton Dominique Louis, Representative of the Swiss Federal Government, Geneva, Jurg Lauber and Bangladesh Ambassador in Geneva Md Abdul Hannan were present on the occasion.
Hasina and her entourage drove in a decorated motorcade to Grand Hotel Kempinski, where the Bangladesh delegation will be staying during the tour.
Earlier at 8:40am (Bangladesh time) in the day, Hasina and her entourage left Dhaka on a flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines and reached at Geneva International Airport at 6:10pm (Bangladesh time).
The passengers on the aircraft apprised the PM of various sorts of mismanagement in operating flights of the national airliners while she was moving around talking to the passengers.
They sought immediate effective steps from the government to remove all "problems and complexities" regarding the flight service of the national flag carrier.
The PM gave a patient hearing to the passengers and assured them of taking necessary steps to improve the air travel facilities.
She deplored that Biman Bangladesh Airlines, as all other sectors of the country, has been ruined due to "misrule and corruption" of the last BNP-Jamaat government.
"But our government is very sincere to develop the national carrier's service. Inshallah, we'll be able to bring back the lost glory of Bangladesh Biman through modern planning and programming," she said.
Meanwhile, The PM's programmes at the climate conference will begin with delivering her statement tomorrow noon at the Geneva International Conference Centre.
On the day, Hasina is also scheduled to have a bilateral meeting with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at Palais Des Nations at 5:00pm. Besides, Helen Clarke, administrator of the UNDP, will also call on the premier at her hotel suite.
On Friday, the PM will co-chair the high-level segment of the day's programmes of the conference.
World Meteorological Organisation Secretary General Michel Jarraud, Vice-President of Colombia Francisco Santos Calderon and Moritz Leuenberger, minister for environment and former president of Switzerland, will call on her on the sidelines of the conference programmes in the conference centre's meeting rooms on the day.
Bangladesh community in Switzerland will give a reception to the premier at the hotel ballroom at 6:00pm on that day.
Besides, Hasina is scheduled to visit Olympic Museum of Lausanne and Chateau de Chillon and attend a briefing on Swiss Canton System organised by Vaud Canton Office and Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation today.
The prime minister with her delegation is scheduled to leave Geneva for Dhaka on September 5.
Foreign Minister Dipu Moni, Foreign Secretary Mijarul Quayes, PM's Principal Secretary MA Karim, Press Secretary Abul Kalam Azad and noted journalist Abdul Gaffar Chowdhury, among others, are accompanying the prime minister on the trip.