PM returns home Monday

LONDON: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina left here this afternoon for home after wrapping up her five-day official visit to the United Kingdom.

A special flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines (BG-006) carrying the premier and members of her entourage is scheduled to take off from Heathrow International Airport at 6:00pm.

They are expected to reach Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka at 8.30am Monday.

On July 25, Sheikh Hasina arrived here to attend the opening ceremony of London Olympics. She also joined the royal reception hosted by Queen Elizabeth II and Duke of Edinburgh Prince Philip at Buckingham Palace on Friday evening ahead of the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games.

The Prime Minister led a 38-member delegation which included Foreign Minister Dr Dipu Moni, Ambassador-At-Large M Ziauddin and Press Secretary to the Prime Minister Abul Kalam Azad.

During her stay in London, Sheikh Hasina attended a series of meetings with the community leaders and professionals and gave interviews to local and international media.

She held a meeting with the First Secretary of State and Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, UK and Northern Ireland, William Hague, MP, on July 28.

Commonwealth Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma and Labour Party Leader Edward Miliband called on her at her hotel suite.

She joined an Iftar party with the journalists from print and electronic media based in the UK on July 25, while Bangladeshi community in London hosted an Iftar party in her honour on July 28.

BDST: 1935 HRS, JUL 29, 2012

Edited by: M. Mahbub Alam, Asst Output Editor