PM Hasina to fly to Hungary on Sunday to attend water conference

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will leave Dhaka on Sunday for a three-day tour to Hungary where she will attend the Water Conference. This is her first visit to the central European country.

The prime minister is expected to reach Budapest in the afternoon (local time) and attend the inaugural ceremony of the Budapest Water Conference slated for the next morning.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is a member of the UN High-Level Panel on Water.

The other members of the panel are presidents of Hungary, Mauritius, Mexico, South Africa, Tajikistan, Peru and Senegal and prime ministers of Australia, Jordan and the Netherlands.

The Budapest Water Conference aims to chalk out next course of actions to achieve water and sanitation related SDG (Sustainable Development Goal) of the UN.

It will also reflect on the progress made so far on water-related issues in the Paris climate agreement.

Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali said four memoranda of understanding (MoU) would be signed by the two countries during Hasina’s stay there.

Water Resources Minister Anisul Islam Mahmud and LGRD Minister Khandker Mosharraf Hossain will accompany her along with a delegation of business leaders in the visit.

Her visit aims to boost trade and investment, water resource management among the countries and exchange of aid in agricultural sectors between the two countries.

She will hold a meeting with the Hungarian president at the latter’s residence on Monday and attend a reception arranged by the Hungarian government at night.

On Tuesday morning, she will pay homage to the Hungarian martyrs at the Heroes Square, and later she will hold a bilateral meeting with her Hungarian counterpart.

The two prime ministers will inaugurate the Bangladesh-Hungary Business Economic Forum in the evening.

Hasina will return home on Wednesday morning.