PM leaves Dhaka for Cambodia

Desk Report: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina left Dhaka for Phnom Penh on Sunday morning on a three-day official visit to Cambodia at the invitation of her Cambodian counterpart Hun Sen.

A VVIP flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines carrying the prime minister and her entourage members took off from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 8.35am for the Cambodian capital.

Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed and Minister for Road Transport and Bridges Obaidul Quader, Chief Whip A S M Firoz and PM's advisor H T Imam were present, among others, at the airport to see the prime minister off at the airport.

The flight is scheduled to reach Phnom Penh International Airport at 12:30pm (Cambodia time) today.

The minister-in-waiting appointed by Cambodian premier Hun Sen, and Bangladesh Ambassador to Thailand Saida Muna Tasneem, who is concurrently accredited to Cambodia, will receive the prime minister at the airport.

After the reception at the airport, a ceremonial motorcade will escort Sheikh Hasina to Hotel Sofitel, where she will be staying during her visit to Cambodia.

In the afternoon, the Bangladesh premier will place wreath at the Independence Monument at Phnom Penh. She will also lay wreath at the Royal Memorial Statue of Late King of Cambodia Norodom Sihanouk.

The prime minister will hold official talks with her Cambodian counterpart Hun Sen tomorrow. Before the talks the two premiers will have a tete-a- tete.

Official sources said as many as 11 instruments, two agreements and nine memorandums of understanding (MoUs), will be signed between Bangladesh and Cambodia during the prime minister's visit.

The naming of two important roads in Dhaka and Phnom Penh after the Father of the Nation of both the countries will be announced.

The prime minister will return home in the afternoon on December 5.


risingbd/Dhaka/Dec 3, 2017/Eva/AI