PM leaves Munich for home tonight

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will leave Germany for home on Sunday night after wrapping up her three-day official visit to attend the Munich Security Conference-2024.

A regular flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines carrying the premier and her entourage members is scheduled to depart from München Franz Josef Strauss Airport, in Munchen of Germany around 9:10pm (local time).

Bangladesh Ambassador to Germany Md. Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan will see the prime minister off at the airport.

The flight will land at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, Dhaka at 11am Monday (February 19).

The premier arrived in Munich on February 15 evening marking her first official visit since assuming office after winning the 12th parliamentary election.

During her stay in Munich, Sheikh Hasina attended the opening ceremony of the Munich Security Conference and held meetings with global leaders on the sidelines of the conference.

The premier had bilateral meetings with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte, Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev, Qatar Prime Minister Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani and Denmark Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen.

During the bilateral talks with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev, Sheikh Hasina called for stopping wars, particularly the Russia-Ukraine war and attack on Gaza.

Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, former Prime Minister of the UK and current Minister of Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs Lord Cameron, and German Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development Svenja Schulze also paid a call on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

At the meeting with the Indian foreign minister, the premier stressed the need for using Bangladesh and Indian currencies Taka and Rupee for doing business between the countries.

President of Women Political Leaders (WPL) Silvana Koch-Mehrin, Senior Managing Director, Development Policy and Partnership of World Bank Axel Van Tortsenburge, World Health Organization (WHO) Director General Pedro's Adhanom Ghebreyesus, President of Global Affairs at Meta and former Deputy Prime Minister of the UK Sir Nick Clegg paid a separate call on the prime minister as well.

Sheikh Hasina also addressed a panel discussion, titled "From Pocket to Planet: Scaling Up Climate Finance" at the Munich Security Conference where she placed six proposals, urging world leaders to unlock climate finance for the victim nations and end the arms race to divert resources into climate fund.

She also joined a reception accorded to her by the Bangladeshi diaspora in Germany and different European countries at Burgerhaus Garching Hotel in Munich.

/KN/