Staff Reporter :
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres arrived in Dhaka on Thursday on a four-day visit to discuss important issues including Rohingya refugee crisis.
Foreign Adviser Md Touhid Hossain received Guterres at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at afternoon.
The UN Chief will attend a series of meetings and greater engagements in Cox’s Bazar Rohingya camp, before his departure on Sunday morning.
Antonio Guterres will meet the Bangladesh interim government’s Chief Adviser Professor Dr. Muhammad Yunus at his office on Friday morning.
Foreign Adviser Touhid Hossain and High Representative on Rohingya issue and priority matters Dr Khalilur Rahman will also meet the UN chief at a city hotel.
After these two separate meetings, the UN chief together with the Chief Adviser will travel to Cox’s Bazar to visit the Rohingya camps.
Disaster Management and Relief Adviser Faruk E Azam Bir Protik will receive them at Cox’s Bazar International Airport around 12pm on Friday.
At a briefing at the watch tower led by UNRC, RRRC, ISCG Principal Coordinator and IOM-UNHCR Representative, a panoramic view of the camps and Myanmar border will be provided.
The World Bank will brief the media demonstrating the role of IFIs in strengthening infrastructure and human capital investment among refugees.
The briefing will highlight disaster mitigation and integrated approaches to service delivery.
Chief Adviser’s Deputy Press Secretary Abul Kalam Azad Majumder said about 1 lakh Rohingya people will join iftar with the Chief Adviser and UN chief together.
Antonio Guterres and Dr Yunus will take part in an Iftar meal with refugees and members of the Bangladeshi host community, recognising the generosity of Bangladesh in sheltering nearly one million Rohingya who fled persecution and violence in Myanmar.
The CA and the UN chief will return to Dhaka from Cox’s Bazar around 8:40pm on Friday.
The UN chief will visit new UN common premises and see the 50th anniversary photo exhibition on Saturday. Adviser Adilur Rahman Khan and Foreign Secretary Md Jashim Uddin are likely to remain present in the event.
Antonio Guterres will also join a meeting with the UN Country Team members and UN staff.
He is likely to attend a roundtable discussion on reforms and will have a separate dialogue with the youth of Bangladesh on Saturday.
The UN Secretary General will also have a meeting with the civil society. Environment Adviser Syeda Rizwana Hasan will moderate the programme.
A joint media briefing by the UN Secretary General and Foreign Adviser Touhid Hossain will take place before joining Iftar and early dinner to be hosted by Chief Adviser Dr.Yunus.
The UN Secretary General is scheduled to leave Dhaka on Sunday morning wrapping up his second visit to Bangladesh.
High Representative Khalilur Rahman will see him off at the airport.
Meanwhile, a ban on all types of public gatherings has been imposed considering the visit of United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres, Chief Adviser’s Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam said on Thursday.
“The decision to impose the ban on public gathering has been taken ahead of the UN Chief’s tour of Bangladesh,” he told a media briefing at the Foreign Service Academy.
Besides, the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) has imposed a ban on all types of public gatherings, rallies, and processions in and around the Bangladesh Secretariat, official residence of the Chief Adviser at Jamuna and key surrounding areas, effective from Thursday until further notice.
