DHAKA, Dec 1, 2019 (BSS) – Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina left here for
Madrid this morning on a three-day official visit to Spain to join the “Heads
of State and Government Summit” of the 25th Annual Conference of Parties
(COP25).
The COP25 of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC) will be held on December 2-13 in Madrid under the Presidency of
Chile and with logistical support from Spain.
A Biman Bangladesh Airlines special flight carrying the premier and her
entourage members took off from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA)
here for Madrid around 10:15 in the morning.
Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Haque, Road Transport and
Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader, State Minister for Civil Aviation and
Tourism Md. Mahbub Ali, Chief Whip Noor-E-Alam Chowdhury, Cabinet Secretary,
chiefs of the three services and Inspector General of Police (IGP), among
others, saw the premier off at the airport.
The flight is scheduled to land at Madrid Torrejon Airport at 5:40pm
(local time).
Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the World Tourism
Organization Hassan Mahmood Khandker will receive the prime minister at the
airport.
After the reception at the airport, a ceremonial motorcade will escort the
prime minister to Hotel Villa Magna in Madrid where she will be staying
during her visit to Spain.
On Monday morning, the premier will attend the inaugural ceremony of the
COP25 at Feria de Madrid (IFEMA), the largest exhibition complex in Spain and
one of the most important venues in Europe following a bilateral meeting with
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.
Later, she will join a general roundtable titled “National plans to
increase ambition by 2020″ and a photo session.
Sheikh Hasina will attend an official luncheon to be hosted by the
president of Spain in honour of the heads of state and government attending
the COP25.
She will later join a dialogue titled ‘Enhancing Action Together” between
governments and civil society.
The premier is scheduled to hold a bilateral meeting with Spanish
President Pedro Sanchez at Feria de Madrid (IFEMA).
The prime minister will join a reception to be hosted by the King and the
Queen of Spain at Royal Palace on Monday evening.
Wrapping up her three-day tour, Sheikh Hasina will depart from Madrid for
Dhaka by a Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight at 9am on Tuesday (local time).
The flight is scheduled to land at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport
(HSIA) here at 12:40am on Wednesday.
The 25th United Nations Climate Change Conference, known as COP25, will
incorporate the 25th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the 15th meeting of the
parties for the Kyoto Protocol (CMP15), and the second meeting of the parties
for the Paris Agreement (CMA2).
The President-Designate for the conference is Ms. Carolina Schmidt
Zaldivar, Minister of Environment of Chile.
The conference is designed to take the next crucial steps in the UN
climate change process. Following agreement on the implementation guidelines
of the Paris Agreement at COP 24 in Poland last year, a key objective is to
complete several matters with respect to the full operationalization of the
Paris Climate Change Agreement.
The conference was planned to be held in Brazil in November 2019, but a
year before its planned start, newly-elected President Jair Bolsonaro
withdrew the offer to host the event, citing economic reason.
Then Chile stepped up and became the new host, but social unrest in the
lead up to the meeting forced it late October 2019 to withdraw from hosting.
Then by mutual agreement between the UN, Chile, and Spain, the latter became
the new host.