Online Desk: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will leave Dhaka for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia tomorrow (November 5) to attend the international conference on ‘Women in Islam: Status and Empowerment’ in Jeddah.

The Kingdom in coordination with the general secretariat of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) will host the conference from November 6 to 8.

A commercial flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines carrying the PM and her entourage will depart Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 9 am local time, PM’s Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim told UNB.

She will arrive at Prince Mohammad Bin Abdul Aziz International Airport in Madina at about 1:30 pm local time.

In the evening, the prime minister will offer Fateha at the Rawza Mubarak of the Prophet (PBUH).

On Monday, Sheikh Hasina will leave Madina for Jeddah by train. In the evening she will attend the conference and deliver a speech.

She will also have meetings with OIC Secretary General Hissein Brahim Taha, Iranian vice president for Women and Family Affairs Department Enseieh Khazali, Executive Director of OIC Women Development Organisation Dr Afnan Alshuaiby and Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal Bin Farhan.

Apart from joining the conference, she will attend the opening of the Women in Islam Exhibition and banquet dinner in honour of her.

Later, she will leave Jeddah and then visit Makkah where she will perform Umrah.

On Tuesday evening, she will leave Makkah for home.

A Biman Bangladesh Airlines commercial flight carrying the prime minister will depart from King Abdulaziz International Airport at about 10:45 pm local time.

The flight is scheduled to land at Dhaka at 8 an on Wednesday.

The 49th Session of the Council of Foreign Ministers held in Mauritania, in March 2023, called for holding an international conference on women in Islam and welcomed the offer made by Saudi Arabia to host it in coordination with the General Secretariat.

The conference aims to clarify women’s rights and responsibilities in Islam, especially women’s rights to education and work as per the teachings of Islam, with broad participation from scholars of the Muslim Ummah.