Online Desk: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina left Dhaka for Doha on Saturday morning to attend the 5th United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDC5), to be held on March 5-9. A VVIP flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines, carrying the prime minister and her entourage, departed Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 11.15 am. The flight is scheduled to land at Hamad International Airport, Doha at 2:30 pm local time, reports UNB.

The PM is visiting Qatar at the invitation of Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. During her stay in Qatar till March 8, Sheikh Hasina will lead a high-level delegation and will hold bilateral meetings with her Qatari counterpart apart from her participation at the LDC5 conference. She will also have a meeting with the Emir of Qatar. Bilateral issues including cooperation in the areas of energy sector will come up for discussion.

On Saturday afternoon, Sheikh Hasina will have separate meetings with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, UNGA President Csaba Korosi and UNDP administrator Achim Steiner at Qatar National Convention Centre (QCC). On March 5, the PM will deliver a speech at the opening plenary meeting of the LDC5 Conference as a special guest at the QCC. Then she will have separate meetings with the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Rwandan President Paul Kagame, Secretary General of United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Rebeca Grynspan, and Secretary General of International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Doreen Bogdan-Martin. Besides, the prime minister will also deliver a speech at a side event titled “Sustainable and Smooth Transition for the Graduating Cohort of 2021,” which will be arranged jointly by Bangladesh, Laos and Nepal.

On March 6, Sheikh Hasina will speak as the chief guest at a business summit, titled “The Rise of Bengal Tiger: Potential of Trade and Investment in Bangladesh” at the St. Regis Doha, will have meeting with Malawi President Dr Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera, and participate in a side event tiled “Investment in Research and Development in LDCs for Smart and Innovative Societies” in the QCC. She will also join the Regional Envoy Conference at the place of residence.

On March 7, the PM will attend a high-level dialogue on “Enhancing the participation of LDCs in International Trade and Regional Integration,” hold meeting with Denmark’s Minister for Development Cooperation Dan Jorgensen, attend an event titled “Global Partnership for Smooth and Sustainable Graduation: Marching towards Smart Bangladesh” as the special guest in the QCC as well as join a civic reception to be hosted by the Bangladeshi community living in Qatar.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is scheduled to leave Doha for Dhaka in the morning on March 8 (Wednesday). At the LDC5 Conference in Doha, world leaders will gather with the private sector, civil society, parliamentarians, and young people to advance new ideas, raise new pledges of support, and spur delivery on agreed commitments, through the Doha Programme of Action.