PM returns home from Baku

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina returned home this evening after wrapping up her four-day official visit to Azerbaijan for attending the 18th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in Baku.

A special flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines carrying the premier and her entourage members landed at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, Dhaka around 7.20pm (BST).

Earlier, the special flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines carrying the premier and her entourage members left the Baku Heydar Aliyev International Airport at 11.10am local time.

Minister for Education of the Republic of Azerbaijan Jeyhun Aziz Oglu Bayramov and Bangladesh Ambassador to Turkey M. Allama Siddiki, who is concurrently accredited to Azerbaijan, saw the prime minister off at the airport.

The two-day summit of the NAM, a forum of 120 developing countries, ended on October 26 at Baku Congress Centre in the Azerbaijan capital of Baku.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina joined the summit along with other heads of states and governments of the member states of the NAM.

On Friday, Sheikh Hasina joined the plenary session of the 18th NAM Summit and took part in a discussion titled “Upholding the Bandung Principles to ensure concerted and adequate response to the challenges of contemporary world” at Baku Congress Centre.

Speaking on the occasion, she said, “We’re currently hosting over 1.1 million Rohingyas. It has the potential to destabilise our country and beyond. We’re constrained to seek support of the international community in resolving the crisis. Voluntary return of the Rohingyas to their homes in the Rakhine State in safety, security and dignity is the only solution to the crisis.”

Along with other NAM leaders, the Bangladesh prime minister attended the opening ceremony of the summit at the Plenary Hall of Baku Congress Centre.

Afterward, Sheikh Hasina joined Working Luncheon for heads of delegation at the Luncheon Hall of the centre and the Plenary Session.

In the evening, the prime minister attended the official reception hosted by Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev at Heydar Aliyev Center.

On Saturday, Sheikh Hasina joined the Plenary Session, the Working Luncheon for the heads of delegation and the Closing Ceremony of the summit.

She attended a dinner hosted at Hilton Baku by the Bangladesh Ambassador to Turkey who is concurrently accredited to Azerbaijan.

On the sidelines of the NAM Summit, the prime minister had meetings with a number of NAM leaders including Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Malaysian Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohammad, Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev, Nepalese Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, Algerian Acting President Abdelkader Bensalah, and Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad Al Malki. An agreement on cultural exchange was signed between Bangladesh and Azerbaijan Yesterday in presence of the Bangladesh Prime Minister and the Azerbaijan President to tune up the cultural ties between the two countries.

Later, Bangladeshi expatriates met Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at the Hotel Hilton Baku, where she was staying.

The premier left Dhaka for Baku on Thursday.