The government feels that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit to the UN General Assembly in New York will create an opportunity to consolidate and portray its success stories at a global level.
“This UNGA is the first after the government assumed power in January,” Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali said at a press briefing at the Foreign Ministry yesterday.
The prime minister will leave Dhaka on September 21 and stay in New York city till September 28.
The theme of the 69th session of the UNGA is “Delivering on and Implementing a Transformative Post-2015 Development Agenda”.
On the sidelines of a series of meetings, she will also have meetings with head of governments of India, Nepal, Qatar, Belarus, Chile and other countries.
When asked about a media report on the exclusion of a statement by UN Secretary General Ban-ki Moon’s in the supplement published by the government in different newspapers, Director General of External Publicity of the Foreign Ministry Noor-e-Alam Helal said: “We received the UN secretary general’s statement yesterday, but we did not have time to publish it.”
The government published a supplement on Bangladesh’s 40th anniversary at the UN as it joined the global body on September 17, 1974.
Mahmood Ali said the prime minister would deliver her speech in Bangla at the UNGA on September 27.
“In her speech, she will speak about international peace and security, democracy and good governance, migration, women empowerment, poverty alleviation, climate change, progress of MDGs, Bangladesh’s position on sustainable development goals and other issues,” the minister said.
When asked about the latest status of post-2015 SDG negotiations at the UN, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam said: “The Foreign Ministry does not deal with such an issue. The Planning Commission can give you the answer.”
Hasina will attend the Climate Summit 2014 and speak about climate change adaptation in Bangladesh and the need for finance, technology and capacity in this regard.
The United States is going to arrange a Peacekeeping Summit on September 26 where Hasina will be one of the co-chairs. The other co-chairs are US Vice President Joe Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Rwandan President Paul Kagame.
She will also attend a programme of the Global Education First Initiative as Bangladesh is one of the champion countries of GEFI members.
The Bangladesh mission in the UN will organise a programme at the UN headquarters to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Bangladesh’s membership in the UN.
Foreign, finance, health, expatriate, environment and food ministers as well as parliament members, including former foreign minister Dipu Moni, senior government officials, eminent citizens, including journalists, and a business delegation will accompany the prime minister.
