National

PM returns home from Munich

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina returned home tonight from Munich via Abu Dhabi after wrapping up her three-day official visit to Germany to attend the 53rd Munich Security Conference (MSC).An Etihad Airways flight (EY258) carrying the premier and her entourage members landed at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka at 8 pm.Earlier, the premier had a stopover for more than six and a half hours at Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates capital, on her way home.The premier paid the three-day visit to Germany to attend the 53rd Munich Security Conference (MSC), an annual meeting on international security policy, at the invitation of German Chancellor Angela Merkel.Sheikh Hasina joined the three-day conference as the first head of state or government of Bangladesh.During the visit, the prime minister also held a bilateral meeting with the German chancellor.On the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, she took part in a panel discussion on “Climate Security: Good COP, Bad COPs”.The prime minister joined a civic reception accorded to her by expatriate Bangladeshis living in different European countries.Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali, PM`s Principal Secretary Dr Kamal Abdul Naser Chowdhury, Foreign Secretary Md Shahidul Haque, Home Secretary Dr Kamaluddin Ahmed and Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim, among others, accompanied the premier during her visit to Germany.Nearly 450 representatives including heads of state and government from different countries joined the Munich Conference which is being considered as the “Best Think Tank Conference” in the present discourses on world security.Besides the Bangladesh prime minister, the Norwegian premier and the presidents of Poland and Afghanistan, the US vice president and defence minister as well as the foreign ministers of Russia, China, the UK, Saudi Arabia and Iran attended the conference.Munich Security Conference started its journey in 1963. Over the past five decades, it has become the major global forum for the discussion of security policy.Source: BSS