Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina arrived in New York on Sunday afternoon to attend the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly.

‘A VVIP chartered flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines carrying the prime minister and her entourage landed at John F Kennedy International Airport at 5:40pm on Sunday (local time),’ PM’s press secretary Ihsanul Karim told UNB.

Foreign minister AK Abdul Momen, state minister for foreign affairs Md Shahriar Alam, foreign senior secretary Masud Bin Momen and PMO secretary Md Tofazzel Hossain Miah, among others, are accompanying the prime minister during the visit, he said.

Bangladesh ambassador to the United States M Shahidul Islam and the permanent representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations in New York, Rabab Fatima, received her at the airport, said Ihsanul Karim.

Besides, leaders and activists of US Awami League and Juba League and Swechhasebak League welcomed the prime minister at the airport.

It is her first foreign trip since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020.

She is going to join the UNGA for the 18th time as the head of government of Bangladesh and will address the UNGA general debate on September 24.

Besides, Sheikh Hasina will attend the opening session of the UNGA general debate on September 21 and other sideline events in the UN headquarters in September 20-24.

She will also have talks with a number of leaders during her stay in New York. The PM is expected to return home on October 1 next.

She will stay at the Hotel Lotte Palace during her stay in New York from September 19 to 25.

On September 20, the PM will attend a closed-door meeting for a small group of HOSs/HOGs on climate change at the UNHQ at 9:00am, plant a tree and dedicate a bench at the UN Gardens at 11:30am in honour of Bangladesh’s founding president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on the occasion of his birth centenary, and lay a floral wreath at the Peace Memorial at the North Lawn of UNHQ at 11:50am.

On Monday, Sheikh Hasina will sit in two separate bilateral meetings with EU Council president Charles Michel at 12:30pm (local time) and with Barbados prime minister Mia Amor Mottley at 2:45pm at her place of residence. Besides, she will join a virtual event of Sustainable Development Solution Network at 4:00pm.

On September 21, the PM will attend the opening session of the UNGA general debate at 9:00pm, sit in a bilateral meeting with Denmark prime minister Mette Frederiksen in the afternoon and join Business Roundtable on US-Bangladesh Business Council at 4:00pm at the place of residence.

On September 22, Sheikh Hasina will virtually attend three events. The events are the high-level meeting of the UNGA to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action at 9:00am, White House Global Covid-19 Summit: Ending the Pandemic and building back better, and a high level side event on Rohingya crisis: imperatives for a sustainable solution at 3:00pm.

On September 23, the Bangladesh PM will attend two programmes by sending her prerecorded statements. These are the Leaders’ Network on ‘delivering on the UN common agenda: Action to achieve equality and inclusion’ to be organised by Swedish Mission to the UN at 8:00am, and the Food Systems Summit, as part of the decade of action to achieve the sustainable development goals by 2030, convened by the UNSG at 1:00pm.

On Thursday, Sheikh Hasina will sit in four bilateral meetings with queen Maxima of the Netherlands at the place of residence, UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres at 1:30pm, Maldives president Ibrahim Mohamed Solih at 2:00pm and Vietnam president Nguyễn Xun Phuc at 2:40pm at the UNHQ.

On September 24, the Bangladesh prime minister will address the UNGA 76 general debate in the morning, sit in a bilateral meeting with Netherlands prime minister Mark Rutte at UNHQ, and will virtually join a community programme.

On September 25, Sheikh Hasina will depart New York for Washington by a Biman flight at 8:00am. She will stay in Washington from 25 to 30 September.

Hasina is scheduled to leave Washington for Dhaka on September 30 and will return home on October 1 after a short stopover in Finland.