PM leaves KSA for UK

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina left Dhammam of Saudi Arabia for the UK on Monday afternoon.

A special flight of Saudi Government carrying the prime minister and members of her entourage departed King Abdulaziz Air Base for London at around 6:50pm local time.

Bangladesh Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Golam Mosih and other officials of Bangladesh embassy in the Kingdom saw the prime minister off.

Sheikh Hasina arrived in Dammam yesterday at the invitation of Saudi King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud to oversee a parade and concluding ceremony of a joint grand military exercise named "Gulf Shield-1"

During her six-day UK visit, the Premier will join the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) Summit and others programmes. The Summit will be held in London this year with the theme "Towards a Common Future".

The prime minister will attend the Commonwealth Women Forum tomorrow as a presenter at the session on "Educate to empower: Making equitable and quality primary education and secondary education a reality for girls across the Commonwealth".

She will join a high-level programme to be organised by Overseas Development Institute (ODI), a prestigious think tank of the UK, in the afternoon.

Sheikh Hasina will be the keynote speaker on "Development Progress of Bangladesh: Policy, Progress and Prospect" in the programme.

On April 18, the prime minister will attend the Asian leaders' roundtable - 'Can Asia keep growing?'.

Sheikh Hasina will join the Welcome Reception followed by a dinner to be hosted by British Premier Theresa May in the afternoon.

On April 19, the premier will attend the formal opening of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) and official welcome ceremony to be hosted by the British prime minister.

She will join a reception to be hosted by Commonwealth Secretary General Patricia Scotland QC and a presentation and reception followed by a dinner of Queen Elizabeth II in honour of Heads of Government and spouse/partners at the Buckingham Palace.

On April 20, Sheikh Hasina will attend three retreat sessions and the closing executive session of the summit.

On April 21, she will attend a reception for participating Commonwealth Heads of Government and the Queen's Birthday Party Concert to be organized by the Royal Commonwealth Society (RCS), reports BSS.

The prime minister will join a community reception the same day.

Besides, Sheikh Hasina will call on heads of government of different countries on the sidelines of the summit. She will return home on April 23.

The Prime Minister will return home on April 23.