PM off to Spain to join COP25

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina left here for Madrid this morning on a three-day official visit to Spain to join the "Heads of State and Government Summit" of the 25th Annual Conference of Parties (COP25).

The COP25 of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will be held on December 2-13 in Madrid under the Presidency of Chile and with logistical support from Spain.

A Biman Bangladesh Airlines special flight carrying the premier and her entourage members took off from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) here for Madrid around 10:15 in the morning.

Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Haque, Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader, State Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism Md. Mahbub Ali, Chief Whip Noor-E-Alam Chowdhury, Cabinet Secretary, chiefs of the three services and Inspector General of Police (IGP), among others, saw the premier off at the airport.

The flight is scheduled to land at Madrid Torrejon Airport at 5:40pm (local time).

Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the World Tourism Organization Hassan Mahmood Khandker will receive the prime minister at the airport.

After the reception at the airport, a ceremonial motorcade will escort the prime minister to Hotel Villa Magna in Madrid where she will be staying during her visit to Spain.

On Monday morning, the premier will attend the inaugural ceremony of the COP25 at Feria de Madrid (IFEMA), the largest exhibition complex in Spain and one of the most important venues in Europe following a bilateral meeting with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte. 

Later, she will join a general roundtable titled "National plans to increase ambition by 2020" and a photo session.

Sheikh Hasina will attend an official luncheon to be hosted by the president of Spain in honour of the heads of state and government attending the COP25.

She will later join a dialogue titled 'Enhancing Action Together" between governments and civil society.

The premier is scheduled to hold a bilateral meeting with Spanish President Pedro Sanchez at Feria de Madrid (IFEMA).

The prime minister will join a reception to be hosted by the King and the Queen of Spain at Royal Palace on Monday evening.

Wrapping up her three-day tour, Sheikh Hasina will depart from Madrid for Dhaka by a Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight at 9am on Tuesday (local time).

The flight is scheduled to land at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) here at 12:40am on Wednesday.

The 25th United Nations Climate Change Conference, known as COP25, will incorporate the 25th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the 15th meeting of the 
parties for the Kyoto Protocol (CMP15), and the second meeting of the parties for the Paris Agreement (CMA2).

The President-Designate for the conference is Ms. Carolina Schmidt Zaldivar, Minister of Environment of Chile.

The conference is designed to take the next crucial steps in the UN climate change process. Following agreement on the implementation guidelines of the Paris Agreement at COP 24 in Poland last year, a key objective is to complete several matters with respect to the full operationalization of the Paris Climate Change Agreement.

The conference was planned to be held in Brazil in November 2019, but a year before its planned start, newly-elected President Jair Bolsonaro withdrew the offer to host the event, citing economic reason.

Then Chile stepped up and became the new host, but social unrest in the lead up to the meeting forced it late October 2019 to withdraw from hosting. 

Then by mutual agreement between the UN, Chile, and Spain, the latter became the new host.