To attend the 15th BRICS Summit, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina flew into Johannesburg on Tuesday night. President Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa invited the premier to attend the conference.
The historic meeting of the BRICS countries—Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa—will take place in South Africa. It will be the first BRICS Summit to be physically held since the Covid-19 pandemic’s emergence and the ensuing international quarantines.
Among the world leaders visiting the African nation are Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
On the invitation of Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa, president of the Republic of South Africa, they will go to South Africa from August 22 to August 24 in order to participate in the summit.
Sheikh Hasina and her entourage were aboard a routine Emirates aircraft that departed Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) at 10:15 am and arrived at OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg at 8:40 pm local time (12:40 am BST).
She stopped at the Dubai International Airport in the United Arab Emirates for more than an hour on her route to Johannesburg.
Sheikh Hasina was driven to the Radisson Blu Hotel Sandton, her place of residence, from the airport.
On August 23, at 10:00 a.m. at the Radisson Blu Hotel and Convention Center, the prime minister will give a speech at the “Bangladesh Trade and Business Summit” as the chief guest, which is being organized jointly by the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) and the Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA).
The PM will give a speech at the “Bangladesh Envoys Conference” that day at 12:30 p.m. at Rivonia 7th Floor, the Palace of Residence, which is being organized by Bangladesh diplomats stationed in African nations.
She will probably have a private meeting with Chinese President XI Jinping at the Hilton Sandton later in the day.
The prime minister will attend a cultural event and a “State Banquet” hosted by the South African president and the BRICS Summit Chair at the Gallagher Estate in Johannesburg in the evening.
BRICS Summit: Strengthening Ties, Fostering Development, and Global Collaboration
The PM will speak on behalf of Bangladesh on August 24 as a member of the “New Development Bank of BRICS” in the “BRICS-Friends of BRICS Summit Leaders Dialogue (BRICS-Africa Outreach and the BRICS Plus Dialogues),” which will start at 9:00 am in the Sandton Convention Centre and include representatives from 70 countries.
Hasina is scheduled to have several bilateral meetings at the Sandton Convention Centre on the same day with the presidents of South Africa, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Brazil, Mozambique, Filipe Jacinto Nyusi, and the New Development Bank, Dilma Vana Rousseff.
On August 24, Hasina will join a gathering of local leaders.
On August 26, at 1:40 p.m. (local time), the prime minister is set to board an Emirates Airlines flight from Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport and go home.
After a brief layover at the Dubai International Airport, she is scheduled to arrive at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) in Dhaka at 8:40 am on August 27.
