PM off to London to attend Girl Summit
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina left Dhaka for London this morning on a three-day official tour to attend the first-ever Girl Summit to be held on July 22 and hold talks with her British counterpart David William Donald Cameroon.
A VVIP flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines carrying the prime minister and her entourage departed from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport around 9:45am.
Cabinet members and civil and military high officials saw her off at the airport.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is leading a 57-member Bangladesh delegation to the summit being hosted jointly by British government and Unicef.
Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali and State Minister for
Women and Children Affairs Meher Afroze Chumki are, among others, in the Bangladesh delegation.
This is her first visit to any European country since winning the January-5 parliamentary elections to become the prime minister for the second consecutive term.
The summit is aimed at mobilising domestic and international efforts to end female genital mutilation and child, early and forced marriage within a generation.
On her arrival at Heathrow Airport, Hasina will be received by Bangladesh High Commissioner to the UK and Northern Ireland Mijarul Quayes, DFID International Affairs Director Anthony Smith and British High Commissioner to Bangladesh Robert Gibson.
From there, the prime minister will be taken to London Hilton on Park Lane in a ceremonial motorcade where she will be staying during her visit along with the delegation members.
Before joining the main session of the Girl Summit, Hasina will hold talks with her British counterpart David William Donald Cameroon on Tuesday at 10 Downing Street when the two leaders are expected to discuss bilateral issues.
Hasina will then attend the high-level session of the summit on Tuesday and interact with First Lady Chantal Compaore of Burkina Faso, a West African Country and Malala Yousafzai of Pakistan.
The session will be moderated by Unicef Executive Director Anthony Lake at Walworth Academy.
Besides, after the high-level session, the prime minister will have a brief exchange of views meet with Anthony Lake and the British prime minister on the Girl Summit as well as attend a question-answer session of the British prime minister.
On July 22, Unicef Executive Director Anthony Lake will meet Hasina at the bilateral conference room of Walworth Academy while DFID State Minister Desmond Swayne TD, MP will meet the PM also at the same venue.
Besides, British Shadow Foreign Minister Douglas Alexander and all-party parliamentary party members will meet the premier at her place of residence on Tuesday afternoon before attending an Iftar mahfil and dinner at her hotel in honour of her to be given by expatriates Bangladeshis living in UK.
On Wednesday, the prime minister will give interview to BBC World Radio and BBC Bangla before returning home on July 23 afternoon.
Wrapping up her three-day tour, Hasina will leave London for home on Wednesday afternoon by a VVIP flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines.
Bangladesh High Commissioner Mijarul Quayes and a representative from British government will see her off at the airport.
She is expected to reach home on Thursday morning.
Comments