Hasina in New York to attend 71st UN General Assembly

Sheikh Hasina has flown in New York from Canada to attend the 71st session of the United Nations General Assembly.

An Air Canada flight carrying the prime minister and her entourage touched down at LaGuardia Airport at 3pm on Sunday (local time).

Hundreds of leaders and activists of her Awami League party's US unit gathered at the airport to welcome her.

No BNP activist was seen at the airport to stage protests as they had done during her previous tours to the US and other Western countries, bdnews24.com New York Correspondent Lovlu Ansar said.

In Canada, she attended the Fifth Replenishment Conference of the Global Fund, which discussed global strategies to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria.

She conferred Bangladesh's 'Friends of Liberation War Honour' award on the late Canadian prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau. His son, incumbent Prime Minister Justin Trudeau received the award.

She also took part in panel discussions titled 'Removing Barriers to Health through Empowering Women and Girls and Reaching the Most Marginalised' and 'Engaging the Youth to meet the Sustainable Development Goals'.

In New York, she will be staying at Hotel Waldorf Astoria, officials said.

Hasina will deliver a speech at the UN General Assembly plenary on refugee rehabilitation on Monday.

She will then have a bilateral meeting with Myanmar's State Counsellor and Foreign Minister Aung Sang Suu Kyi.

Later in the day, Hasina will co-chair a round table on global migration that will seek to focus on human rights for migrants in the context of 2030 agenda for sustainable development.

On Sep 20, she will attend the inaugural session of the UN General Assembly. Later, she will take part in an Asian Leaders Forum meeting on counter-terrorism organised by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at Hotel Marriot Eastside.

On the same day, she will attend a meeting on refugee issues organised by US President Barack Obama that will be followed by a reception.

On Sep 22, the prime minister is scheduled to meet Swiss President Johann Schneider-Ammann and later join the inaugural session of the Global Deal Initiative organised by the Swedish prime minister.

Later that afternoon, Hasina will address the UN General Assembly before attending a reception hosted by Bangladeshi expatriates in the evening.

She will also address a press conference in the Bangladesh mission in New York on that day.

On the sidelines of the General Assembly, Hasina is scheduled to meet the heads of several other states, the Commonwealth secretary general, the World Economic Forum executive chairman and the World Bank president.

The prime minister will leave New York for Virginia on Sep 22.

She will take an Emirates flight from Washington DC on Sep 25 and reach Dhaka the next day.