M M Jasim :
Secretary-General of the United Nations António Guterres arrives in capital Dhaka early today (Sunday) with a mission to safe repatriation of Myanmar’s Rohingya refugees now living in Bangladesh.
Guterres is scheduled to land at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) by a flight of Qatar Airways at 1.45am.
Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali will receive him at the airport on behalf of Bangladesh Government.
Meanwhile, World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim already arrived in the capital on Saturday by a flight of Emirates Airlines at 5.20pm.
Their visit will highlight the generosity of Bangladesh in hosting the world’s largest refugee influx of 2017 and the need of the international community to do more, Foreign Ministry sources said.
Th UN Secretary General will be joined by the World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim, during the mission that features their visit to the Rohingya refugees, numbering over a million in Cox’s Bazar on Monday.
They will review the situation of the newly arrived Rohingyas in Bangladesh, and assess progress towards a safe, voluntary and dignified return of refugees, in line with international standards.
On April 6 this year, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina invited the UN Secretary General to visit Bangladesh to see for himself the plight of Rohingyas who have taken shelter here amid persecution in Myanmar.
During the telephonic conversation, Sheikh Hasina also sought UN cooperation in implementing the agreement signed between Bangladesh and Myanmar over the Rohingya repartition.
The World Bank may provide Bangladesh with a grant worth around $200 million to help tackle the ongoing Rohingya crisis, according to sources.
The UN Secretary-General and the World Bank President will jointly meet with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on Sunday morning.
The visiting guests will subsequently attend an event on sustainable development agenda at the PMO.
Guterres and Kim are scheduled to visit Bangabandhu Memorial Museum at Dhanmondi to pay tribute to Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
They will later visit Holy Cross Girls High School at Tejgaon to inspect Generation Breakthrow Project there and they will witness field demonstration at Hotel Radisson Blue in the afternoon. The World Bank President will also held separate meeting with Finance Minister AMA Muhith at the latter’s ministry on Sunday.
Guterres is scheduled to meet with the United Nations Country Team and Kim is scheduled to meet with staffs of the World Bank at Hotel Radisson Blue in the afternoon.
The two visiting guests will subsequently join a joint get-together of the staffs of the United Nations and the World Bank at the hotel.
Guterres and Kim are scheduled to reach Cox’s Bazar Airport by a special flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines on Monday morning, the second day of their visit.
From the airport, they will be escorted to Hotel Sayeman where Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali will brief media on the visit. Guterres and Kim will subsequently visit Konar Para Rohingya camp and interact with the Rohingya people at the camp and they will later visit Kutupalong Rohingya camp in the afternoon.
After the camp visit, the two visiting guests are scheduled to talk to reporters at Kutupalong camp on different aspects of the Rohingya crisis and their visit.
The UN chief and the World Bank boss are scheduled to return to Dhaka in the afternoon.
Back in Dhaka, the two guests will hold a press conference at Hotel Radisson Blue in the evening.
The World Bank President will leave Dhaka by a flight of Emirates Airlines on Monday night while the UN chief is scheduled to leave Dhaka by a flight of Emirates on Tuesday morning.
