CA’s speech to feature reform, duty-free export

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Duty-free access of products from developing countries, free labour movement and the caretaker government’s reform programmes will feature in Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed’s speech to the 62nd United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on Thursday.

Fakhruddin will leave for New York tomorrow to attend the UNGA, where he will meet a number of global leaders, including Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi and Afghan President Hamid Karzai, on the sidelines.

Foreign Adviser Iftekhar A Chowdhury revealed the chief adviser’s programme for the trip to the press at a briefing at the foreign ministry yesterday.

Fakhruddin will also attend a high-level UN panel on climate change, as well as deliver speeches to the Asia Society and at the Columbia University.

In his address to the UNGA, Fakhruddin will demand for least developed countries duty-free access to developed countries’ markets, as well as ask for the free movement of labour across countries.

He will also outline the caretaker government’s reform programmes and the roadmap to general elections.

Iftekhar said the chief adviser would also call on member states to ensure the UN plays a central role in global affairs as well as the expansion of the peacekeeping activities.

He will attend receptions hosted by US President George W Bush, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, and expatriate Bangladeshis in New York.

The chief adviser will also hold bilateral meetings with the Italian prime minister and former European Union commissioner Romano Prodi, and also meet Afghan Prime Minister Hamid Karzai and Czech Prime Minister Vaclav Klose. Fakhruddin is scheduled to return home on September 30.

Foreign Adviser Iftekhar will hold talks with the foreign ministers of Britain, Sri Lanka, Malta, and a number of Middle-East countries.

He will also attend meetings of the Non-Aligned Movement Committee on Palestine, Saarc council of ministers, Commonwealth foreign ministers, the Organisation for Islamic Conference and the Group of 77 foreign ministers on the sidelines of UNGA.

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