PM off to Istanbul

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina left the city Saturday morning for Turkey on a four-day visit to attend the fourth UN Conference on LDCs to be held in Istanbul, report agencies. An Emirates flight carrying the Prime Minister and her delegation took off at 10:30am for Dubai en-route-to Istanbul. Ministers, State Ministers, Advisers to the Prime Minister, MPs, Awami League senior leaders, chiefs of three services and diplomats saw the Prime Minister off at the VVIP lounge of the airport. The UN conference on least developed countries The UN conference on least developed countries (LDCs) takes place every 10 years with the first held in 1981. The Prime Minister will visit Topkapi Museum and Blue Mosque in Istanbul today (Sunday) morning. In the afternoon, Hasina will deliver her speech at the Summit of the LDC Group at Lutfi Kirdar Convention and Exhibition Center. The same evening, she is expected to attend a dinner during a cruise on Bosphorus, to be hosted by Bangladesh Ambassador to Turkey and his wife. In the morning of May 9, the Prime Minister will attend the inaugural ceremony of the fourth UN Conference on LDCs. She will attend a working lunch to be hosted by her Turkish counterpart before joining the afternoon session, which will be followed by ribbon cutting session of the LDC Trade Fair. Hasina will visit the Bangladeshi stall at the fair. Later, Hasina will call on the Nepalese Prime Minister and have a meeting with the Turkish Prime Minister at the same venue. She will witness the signing of an agreement between the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) and The Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) for establishing Turkish Bangladesh Business Council (TBBC). After that Hasina will have meetings with the EU Head of Delegation, head of state or head of government of Finland and Belgium, and UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon. Then she will attend a dinner to be hosted by Turkish President Abdullah Gul at Ciragan Palace in Istanbul. On May 10, Hasina will deliver her speech in the morning session of the fourth UN Conference on LDCs at Lutfi Kirdar Convention Center. On the same day, she will leave Istanbul for home and arrive in Dhaka in the morning of May 11. Heads of states and governments of 48 least developed, developing and small island countries will participate in the conference to formulate and adopt a renewed partnership between the LDCs and their development partners. The entourage also included a business delegation, led by president of the FBCCI AK Azad, he said.