Hasina visits Indonesia next month

PM will fly with Biman after 2 visits by foreign carriers

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will undertake a visit to Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, from March 6 to 7 to participate in the Leaders' Summit in commemoration of the 20th anniversary of Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), government sources told The Independent. The Summit of the Leaders belonging to IORA will be held in Jakarta on March 7. After ‘ignoring’ Biman Bangladesh Airlines, the national flag carrier, on her last two overseas trips – Switzerland in January and Germany this month – the prime minister is all but certain to fly on Biman again for her trip to Indonesia, said the sources at the government and Biman. According to the IORA website, the organisation will be celebrating its 20th anniversary in March. Indonesia, as the current chair of IORA, will host the first ever IORA Leaders’ Summit on March 7, 2017 in Jakarta under the theme “Strengthening Maritime Cooperation for a Peaceful, Stable, and Prosperous Indian Ocean”.
The Summit will bring together the leaders of the 21 IORA member states and its 7 dialogue partners as well as other special invitees and guests.
The Leaders’ Summit will be preceded by a committee of senior officials’ meeting on 5 March 2017 and a council of ministers’ meeting on March 6 2017.
Along with the above official meetings, the IORA will also engage the private sector through a “Business Summit” to be held on March 6, 2017 with the aim at deepening business cooperation in the region. Other related events, including a photo exhibition on the IORA’s journey through the 20 years of its existence, will also be organised at the sidelines of the Summit. The Summit is expected to be a game-changer for regional cooperation in the Indian Ocean, and in keeping with the challenges that the region faces, aims to forge a revitalised and sustainable architecture in multi-dimensional engagement. The Summit proposes to adopt strategic outcome documents entitled the “IORA Concord” and the “IORA Action Plan” as well as the “IORA Declaration on Countering Violent Extremism Leading to Terrorism”. These strategic documents reflect IORA’s vision for the future. On the participation of the prime minister, sources concerned said that following the settlement of maritime boundary disputes with Myanmar and India, engagements with other countries with marine resources is very important for the country, as the capacity of Bangladesh to utilise its marine resources is still at a budding stage.
The participation in the event at different levels will enable Bangladesh to learn from other countries in this sector, they said. Meanwhile, Biman is all set to get back the confidence of head of the government, as it is all but certain that Prime Minister Hasina will fly on the national flag carrier during her trip to Indonesia. “Yes, it (flying on Biman) is an option,” a senior foreign ministry official told The Independent. Another government official said, “It appears the prime minister’s confidence on Biman returned and she will fly with the national flag carrier.”
“Yes, the prime minister is flying with us (Biman) again during her trip to Indonesia,” a senior Biman official said, adding, “It’s a great news for us. The snubbing of Biman by the head of the government is undoubtedly damaging for the image of the national flag carrier both domestically and internationally.”
During her trip to Switzerland to attend the meeting of the World Economic Forum, the prime minister flew on a middle-eastern airliner. She also opted for a middle-eastern carrier for her trip to Germany earlier this month.  
Though never officially announced, the choice of foreign airlines to carry the head of the government instead of the national flag carrier was made after the incident on November 27, last year when the Biman aircraft carrying Hasina had to make an emergency landing in Turkmenistan on her way to Budapest, the capital of Hungary.
About the incident, the prime minister herself said in parliament that human hands are responsible behind the emergency landing.
Several investigations are underway in this regard and some engineers of Biman have been taken in custody in connection with the incident. Earlier in June, the landing of the plane carrying the prime minister was delayed by about 50 minutes due to the presence of some objects on the runaway of the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport. About the use of foreign airliners instead of Biman, AM Mosaddique Ahmed, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Biman, told The Independent on February 16, “Given the unwanted incidents, it is natural to affect the prime minister to some extent in terms of confidence in Biman. This is the last thing we wanted,” “We know the prime minister loves and supports Biman. We hope that very soon we will be able to serve the prime minister,” he said.

Hasina visits Indonesia next month

PM will fly with Biman after 2 visits by foreign carriers

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will undertake a visit to Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, from March 6 to 7 to participate in the Leaders Summit in commemoration of the 20th anniversary of Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), government sources told The Independent. The Summit of the Leaders belonging to IORA will be held in Jakarta on March 7. After ignoring Biman Bangladesh Airlines, the national flag carrier, on her last two overseas trips Switzerland in January and Germany this month the prime minister is all but certain to fly on Biman again for her trip to Indonesia, said the sources at the government and Biman. According to the IORA website, the organisation will be celebrating its 20th anniversary in March. Indonesia, as the current chair of IORA, will host the first ever IORA Leaders Summit on March 7, 2017 in Jakarta under the theme Strengthening Maritime Cooperation for a Peaceful, Stable, and Prosperous Indian Ocean. The Summit will bring together the leaders of the 21 IORA member states and its 7 dialogue partners as well as other special invitees and guests. The Leaders Summit will be preceded by a committee of senior officials meeting on 5 March 2017 and a council of ministers meeting on March 6 2017. Along with the above official meetings, the IORA will also engage the private sector through a Business Summit to be held on March 6, 2017 with the aim at deepening business cooperation in the region. Other related events, including a photo exhibition on the IORAs journey through the 20 years of its existence, will also be organised at the sidelines of the Summit. The Summit is expected to be a game-changer for regional cooperation in the Indian Ocean, and in keeping with the challenges that the region faces, aims to forge a revitalised and sustainable architecture in multi-dimensional engagement. The Summit proposes to adopt strategic outcome documents entitled the IORA Concord and the IORA Action Plan as well as the IORA Declaration on Countering Violent Extremism Leading to Terrorism. These strategic documents reflect IORAs vision for the future. On the participation of the prime minister, sources concerned said that following the settlement of maritime boundary disputes with Myanmar and India, engagements with other countries with marine resources is very important for the country, as the capacity of Bangladesh to utilise its marine resources is still at a budding stage. The participation in the event at different levels will enable Bangladesh to learn from other countries in this sector, they said. Meanwhile, Biman is all set to get back the confidence of head of the government, as it is all but certain that Prime Minister Hasina will fly on the national flag carrier during her trip to Indonesia. Yes, it (flying on Biman) is an option, a senior foreign ministry official told The Independent. Another government official said, It appears the prime ministers confidence on Biman returned and she will fly with the national flag carrier. Yes, the prime minister is flying with us (Biman) again during her trip to Indonesia, a senior Biman official said, adding, Its a great news for us. The snubbing of Biman by the head of the government is undoubtedly damaging for the image of the national flag carrier both domestically and internationally. During her trip to Switzerland to attend the meeting of the World Economic Forum, the prime minister flew on a middle-eastern airliner. She also opted for a middle-eastern carrier for her trip to Germany earlier this month. Though never officially announced, the choice of foreign airlines to carry the head of the government instead of the national flag carrier was made after the incident on November 27, last year when the Biman aircraft carrying Hasina had to make an emergency landing in Turkmenistan on her way to Budapest, the capital of Hungary. About the incident, the prime minister herself said in parliament that human hands are responsible behind the emergency landing. Several investigations are underway in this regard and some engineers of Biman have been taken in custody in connection with the incident. Earlier in June, the landing of the plane carrying the prime minister was delayed by about 50 minutes due to the presence of some objects on the runaway of the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport. About the use of foreign airliners instead of Biman, AM Mosaddique Ahmed, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Biman, told The Independent on February 16, Given the unwanted incidents, it is natural to affect the prime minister to some extent in terms of confidence in Biman. This is the last thing we wanted, We know the prime minister loves and supports Biman. We hope that very soon we will be able to serve the prime minister, he said.