শনিবার, ২৭শে এপ্রিল, ২০২৪ খ্রিস্টাব্দ ১৪ই বৈশাখ, ১৪৩১ বঙ্গাব্দ

PM to stretch vaccination, climate, Rohingya in UNGA: FM

news-image

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will highlight the importance of equity in terms of vaccine sharing, climate change and Rohingya issue in her speech at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on September 24.

“COVID-19 vaccine should be a public good without any discrimination,” said Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen on Thursday sharing the key engagements of the Prime Minister.

Prime Minister Hasina leaves here on this (Friday, Sept 17) morning on a two-week official visit to the United States to attend the UNGA in New York and other engagements with a stopover in Helsinki, Finland.
Foreign Minister Dr Abdul Momen said the Prime Minister will address the UNGA on September 24 and she will deliver her speech in-person.

 

He said Bangladesh will host a side event on Rohingya crisis where many countries will voluntarily join.

On the sideline of the UNGA, Momen said there will be a number of bilateral meetings with important heads of the state and government participating in the 76th UNGA session.

According to the programme schedule, the Prime Minister is scheduled to leave for New York from Helsinki, Finland on September 19 after her stopover there on September 17-18.

Wrapping up her official visit to New York, the Prime Minister will visit Washington DC where she will stay from September 25 to 30.
Hasina is scheduled to leave Washington for Dhaka on September 30 and will return home on October 1 after a stopover in Finland.

State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam and Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen, among others, were present at the press conference held at the Foreign Ministry in the afternoon.

This is going to be Prime Minister Hasina’s first overseas visit since the outbreak of the Covid-19 in March 2020.

Earlier, she addressed the UNGA for 17 times and this would be her 18 times joining the UNGA.

The Covid-19 pandemic has proved to be the most challenging period the world has seen since the Second World War, said the UN Secretary-General on Tuesday.

Newly sworn in General Assembly President, Abdulla Shahid of the Maldives, opened the new 76th session, noting that his country’s flag is “flying at the highest peak today”.

He spoke of near-universal “collective anxiety” and hopelessness, not all of which is pandemic-related, saying: “The narrative must change” and that the General Assembly “must play a part in this”.