Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina arrived in Budapest yesterday evening on a four-day visit at the invitation of Hungarian President Dr Janos Ader to attend the Budapest Water Summit 2016, reports UNB A VVIP flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines carrying the Prime Minister and her entourage landed at Ferenc Liszt International Airport at 6:15 pm (local time). Hungarian Minister of State for Security Policy and International Cooperation Istvan Mikola, Bangladesh Ambassador to Hungary M Abu Zafar, Hungarian Ambassador in Dhaka Gyula Petho and Chief of Protocol of Hungary Istvan Manno received the Prime Minister at the airport. She was also given a static guard of honour by the Hungarian armed forces after her arrival at the airport.
From Liszt International Airport in Budapest, a ceremonial motorcade escorted the Prime Minister to Four Seasons Hotel Gresham Palace where she will be staying during the visit.
Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resumed her journey for Budapest from Turkmenistan yesterday evening, after a delay of over four hours following a technical glitch in the Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight she was travelling in.
The VVIP flight of the national flag carrier left Ashgabat International Airport at 6:37 pm (BST) after necessary repair of the aircraft, Biman general manager (PR) Shakil Meraj told UNB over phone. "The flight is expected to reach Budapest at 11 pm (BST)," he said. He said the Biman flight made an emergency landing at the Ashgabat International Airport around 2:15 pm (BST) following low oil pressure at its engine.
Earlier in the morning, the Prime Minister left Dhaka for Budapest by the VVIP flight of the national flag carrier that took off from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 9:00 am.
Ministers and high civil and military officials saw the Prime Minister off at the airport. LGRD and Cooperatives Minister Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, Water Resources Minister Anisul Islam Mahmud and Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali are accompanying the Prime Minister during the tour. Bangladesh and Hungary are likely to sign four Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) during Sheikh Hasina's visit.
Hasina and her Hungarian counterpart Victor Orban will jointly inaugurate Bangladesh-Hungarian Business and Economic Forum.
This is the first head of government-level bilateral visit between the two countries, said Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali at a press conference in Dhaka on Thursday.
On November 28, the Prime Minister will address the inaugural session of the two-day Budapest Water Summit (BWS-2016). The Summit with the theme 'Water Connects' aims to promote water as source of cooperation, peace and development for all countries committed to sustainable development. During the summit on November 28-30, some 1,800 participants, including over a dozen of heads of state and government from 117 countries, will lay down their proposed solutions for the relevant international bodies by adopting the 'Budapest Statement 2016'.
Later, Hasina along with the Hungarian President and other dignitaries are expected to visit a Sustainable Water Solution Expo. The Prime Minister will hold a meeting with Hungarian President Dr Janos Ader at his Presidential Palace office. At the evening, she will join the dinner to be hosted by the Hungarian President. On Tuesday morning, the Prime Minister will go to Heroes' Square to show respects to the Hungarian national heroes and unknown soldiers who died for the establishment of the country. She will pay tributes placing wreaths there. Later, she will hold bilateral talks with her Hungarian counterpart Victor Orban at Kossuth Square where she will be given a formal guard of honour.
The meeting will be followed by a signing ceremony of a number of agreements. Those are MoU between the Foreign Ministries of Hungary and Bangladesh; MoU on Cooperation in the Field of Water Management between the two governments; MoU on Cooperation in the field of Agriculture between the two countries.
The two Prime Ministers will deliver press statements after the bilateral talks. She will then attend a high-level panel of water with the Hungarian President and join a working lunch to be hosted by the President. In the afternoon, Hasina along with the Hungarian Prime Minister will attend the concluding ceremony of Bangladesh-Hungary Business and economic Forum and witness the signing of MoU between the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce & Industry and the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Both the Prime Ministers will deliver their statements after the signing ceremony. At 9:30am on Wednesday, the Prime Minister will leave Budapest by a VVIP Biman flight. She is expected to reach Dhaka at 11.30 pm.