Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has accorded a warm reception as she arrived at New York to attend the 69th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on Tuesday. An Emirates flight carrying the prime pinister and members of her entourage reached J F Kennedy (JFK) Airport at 10:20am (local time). Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali, Bangladesh Ambassador to the US Mohammad Ziauddin and Bangladesh Ambassador, Permanent Representative to the UN Dr A K Abdul Momen, PM's Principal Secretary Abdus Sobhan Sikder, leaders of Awami League US chapter and a large number of expatriate Bangladeshis welcomed the premier at the airport. After the warm reception at JFK, the prime minister in a ceremonial motorcade was taken to Hotel Grand Hyatt, where she will be staying during her eight-day visit. Sheikh Hasina will attend the opening session of the 69th UNGA at the UN Headquarters on September 24. She will address the UNGA on September 27. She will join a reception to be hosted by US President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama and another reception on September 23 and a luncheon of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on September 24. On September 23, she will attend the inaugural session of the Climate Conference 2014 and deliver a speech at the "National Action and Ambition Announcement" session of the conference. She will take part in a high-level discussion of the Global Education First Initiative on September 24. On September 25, Sheikh Hasina is scheduled to join a luncheon to be hosted by American Chamber and American Business Council at Grand Hyatt Hotel. On the same day, she will join a discussion of the Commonwealth Heads of the Government (CHG). The prime minister will attend a summit on "The International Peacekeeping Operation" at the UN Headquarters on September 26. She will join a function marking the 40th anniversary of Bangladesh's UN membership the same day. On September 27, she will attend the Global Citizens' Festival at Great Lawn at Central Park. On the sidelines of the UNGA, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will hold a meeting with her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi on September 27. She will also meet Norwegian Premier Erna Solberg, Belarusian Prime Minister Mikhal V. Myasnikovich, Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hmad Al-Thani and Nepalese Prime Minister Sushil Koirala. Sheikh Hasina will meet the press at Bangladesh's Permanent Mission on September 26. She will also join a reception to be accorded by the expatriate Bangladeshis on September 27.
Sheikh Hasina left Dhaka last night for New York via Dubai by an Emirates flight. She made about a two-hour stopover in Dubai.