Prime Minister Tarique Rahman returned home on Sunday morning after wrapping up his five-day visit to the United States to attend the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
“An Emirates flight carrying the Prime Minister, his wife Dr Zubaida Rahman and members of his entourage reached Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport via Dubai around 8:20am,” PM’s Deputy Press Secretary Hasan Shiplu told UNB.
Upon his arrival, Local Government, Rural Development and Co-operatives Minister Dr Abdul Moyeen Khan, Chief Whip Nurul Islam Moni, Prime Minister’s Defence Adviser Brigadier General (retd) AKM Shamsul Islam, Whip Miah Nuruddin Ahmad Apu, Cabinet Secretary Nasimul Ghani, Prime Minister’s Principal Secretary ABM Abdus Sattar and local MP SM Jahangir Hossain received the Prime Minister at the airport.
After a six-hour transit stop in Dubai, the Emirates flight departed Dubai International Airport for Dhaka at 2:15am local time, Shiplu said. Tarique arrived in Dubai from New York at 8:23pm local time on Saturday on an Emirates flight after leaving New York on Friday night.
At John F Kennedy International Airport, Tarique and Zubaida were seen off by Bangladesh Ambassador to the United States Tareq Md Ariful Islam, Bangladesh’s Permanent Representative to the UN Irene Khan and senior officials of the UN mission and embassy.
The Prime Minister arrived in New York on September 21 – leading a 35-member delegation – to attend the UNGA and delivered his maiden address as Prime Minister at the General Debate on September 24.
During the five-day visit, he held around 30 bilateral and side meetings with heads of state and government, senior international officials and representatives of international organisations.
He held bilateral meetings with the leaders of Türkiye, Iran, Pakistan, Croatia, Haiti, Bhutan and Thailand, as well as senior officials from Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Sweden.
The meetings focused on bilateral relations, trade and investment, economic cooperation, manpower, the Rohingya crisis and regional and international issues.
The Prime Minister also met UN Secretary-General António Guterres, World Bank President Ajay Banga, UN officials and other international dignitaries.
In his UNGA address, Tarique highlighted Bangladesh’s priorities on global peace and security, climate change, sustainable development, economic cooperation and the Rohingya crisis.
He also outlined the government’s three-R strategy—Recovery, Restoration and Reconstruction—to rebuild Bangladesh.
During the visit, the Prime Minister also attended high-level events on the Rohingya crisis, sea-level rise, climate action and a just transition, and integrating midwifery into primary healthcare.
On the economic front, he attended a breakfast meeting hosted by JPMorgan Chase with Wall Street representatives, where he said Bangladesh is “open for business” and invited global investors to invest in the country.
SM/CitizenTimes
