PM to leave for Saudi Arabia on Sunday to attend conference

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will leave Dhaka for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) on Sunday to join the International Conference on Women in Islam to be held in Jeddah.

Saudi Arabia in coordination with the General Secretariat of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) is hosting the conference on November 6-8, reports BSS.

The conference will discuss five themes, and publication on "Jeddah Document of Women in Islam" will be published, Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen told reporters at a media briefing at his ministry on Thursday.

A commercial flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines, carrying the prime minister and her entourage members will depart from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) at 09.00am, according to the official itinerary of the Prime Minister's Office.

She will arrive at Prince Mohammad Bin Abdul Aziz International Airport in Medina at about 1:30pm local time.

In the evening, the prime minister will perform ziarat of the Rawja Mubarak of Prophet (PBUH) and offer Fateha there.

In the morning on November 6, Sheikh Hasina will leave Medina for Jeddah by train. In the evening, she will attend the conference and deliver her speech.

She will also have meetings with OIC Secretary General Hissein Brahim Taha, Iranian Vice President for Women and Family Affairs Department Enseieh Khazali, Executive Director of OIC Women Development Organisation Dr Afnan Alshuaiby and Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal Bin Farhan.

Apart from joining the conference, she will attend the opening function of the Women in Islam Exhibition and banquet dinner in honour of her.

Later, she will leave Jeddah and then visit Mecca where she will perform Holy Umrah.

In the evening on November 7, she will leave Mecca for home.

A Biman Bangladesh Airlines commercial flight, carrying the prime minister will depart from King Abdul Aziz International Airport at about 10:45pm local time.

The flight is scheduled to land at HSIA in Dhaka at 8am on November 8.

The 49th Session of the Council of Foreign Ministers held in Mauritania, in March 2023, called for holding an international conference on women in Islam and welcomed the offer made by Saudi Arabia to host it in coordination with the General Secretariat of OIC.

The conference aims to clarify women's rights and responsibilities in Islam, especially women's rights to education and work as per the teachings of Islam, with broad participation from scholars of the Muslim Ummah.