UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has arrived in Dhaka on a four-day visit at the invitation of the Interim Government’s Chief Advisor Dr. Muhammad Yunus. He was welcomed at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on Thursday afternoon by Foreign Affairs Advisor Md. Towhid Hossain. This is his second visit to Bangladesh in almost seven years. The Rohingya refugee crisis will be a priority during the UN Secretary-General’s visit. Apart from this, the concerned parties have conveyed that human rights issues will also be given importance.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that as per the schedule, Khalilur Rahman, the Foreign Affairs Advisor and the Special Representative of the Chief Advisor on the Rohingya Problem and Priority Issues, will first pay a courtesy call on the Secretary-General (at the hotel) on Friday (March 14). After that, the UN Secretary-General will meet with Chief Advisor Professor Yunus at his office.

After the meeting, they will go to Cox’s Bazar together on a Bangladesh Biman flight. From there, they will visit the Rohingya refugee camps. Various organizations working for the UN in the Rohingya camps will brief the UN Secretary-General about their respective activities. After visiting the refugee camps, the UN Secretary-General will have an iftar with everyone in solidarity with the Rohingya and the holy month of Ramadan. He will have an iftar with at least one hundred thousand Rohingya refugees. The UN Secretary-General and the Principal Advisor will leave for Dhaka from Cox’s Bazar at night.

The Secretary-General will visit the UN office in Dhaka next Saturday (March 15). This evening, Principal Advisor Professor Yunus organized an iftar and dinner in honor of the UN Secretary-General. The UN Secretary-General is scheduled to leave Dhaka on the morning of March 16. Incidentally, UN Secretary-General Guterres visited Bangladesh in July 2018.