Hasina arrives in Jeddah to attend Makkah Summit

Jeddah, May 31 (UNB) – Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Friday afternoon arrived here in Saudi Arabia, the second destination of her tri-nation tour, from Tokyo wrapping up her four-day visit to Japan.

A special flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines carrying the Prime Minister and her entourage landed at King Abdulaziz International Airport, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia at 5:10pm (local time).

Bangladesh Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Golam Moshi received her at the airport. Then the Prime Minister left the airport for the place of residence, the Makkah Palace.

The flight carrying her departed Haneda International Airport, Tokyo at 9:45am (local time) where Japanese State Minister for Foreign Affairs Toshiko Abe saw her off.

During her three-day stay in Saudi Arabia, the Prime Minister will attend the 14th session of the OIC’s Islamic Summit in Makkah and perform the holy Umrah on Saturday and offer Ziarat at the Rawza Mubarak of Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH) on Sunday.

In the early hours of June 3, Sheikh Hasina will leave Saudi Arabia for Finland where she will be staying till June 7.

During her stay in Finland, Sheikh Hasina will have a meeting with Finnish President Sauli Niinistö on June 4.

Saudi Arabia is hosting the 14th session of the OIC’s Islamic Summit in Makkah. The summit, titled ‘Makkah Summit: Together for the Future’, aims to develop a unified stance on events in the Islamic world.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will attend the opening ceremony of the OIC summit on Friday evening.

On Saturday, she will attend the first working session at 12:30pm and the second working session at 1:30pm.

The Prime Minister will attend the closing session at 2:30pm and then join the Suhoor Banquet at Safa Palace.

In the evening, she will perform Umrah.

On Sunday morning, the Prime Minister will leave Jeddah for Madina by air and offer Fateha at the Rawza Mubarak (grave) of Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH). In the evening, she will depart Madinah for Jeddah by air.

On the morning of June 3, she will leave Jeddah for Helsinki, Finland via Frankfurt. She will land at Helsinki at 1pm (local time).

On May 28, the Prime Minister left Dhaka for Japan to attend the Nikkei International Conference on ‘The Future of Asia’ there.

During PM’s stay in Japan, the two countries signed the 40th ODA deal involving US$ 2.5 billion after a bilateral meeting between Sheikh Hasina and her Japanese counterpart Shinzō Abe on Wednesday.

Besides, she joined a community reception accorded to her and attended a breakfast roundtable meeting with Japanese Business leaders.

Also the Japanese family members of the Holy Artisan victims and JICA president Shinichi Kitaoka separately met Sheikh Hasina there.

On June 8, the Prime Minister is scheduled to return home wrapping up her 12-day tri-nation visit.