Prof Yunus leaves New York for Dhaka

Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus left New York on Tuesday night (US time) for Dhaka, concluding a nine-day visit marked by extensive engagements during the 80th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).

An Emirates airlines commercial flight carrying the Chief Adviser and his small entourage took off from John F. Kennedy International Airport at 11:10 pm (US time).

Bangladesh Ambassador to the United States Tareq Md Ariful Islam and Bangladesh’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Ambassador Salahuddin Noman Chowdhury saw him off at the airport, said Chief Adviser's Deputy Press Secretary Abul Kalam Azad Majumder.

The Chief Adviser is scheduled to arrive at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka on the morning of October 2 (Bangladesh time), via Dubai.

Prof Yunus began his UNGA tour on September 22 and concluded it by attending the high-level conference on the “Situation of Rohingya Muslims and Other Minorities” held at the UN General Assembly Hall on Tuesday.

He delivered his address at the 80th UNGA on September 26 and held a series of meetings with world leaders on the sidelines of the session.

BNP Secretary-General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, BNP leader Humayun Kabir, Jamaat-e-Islami Nayeb-e-Ameer Syeed Abdullah Muhammad Taher, Jamaat’s US spokesperson Mohammad Nakibur Rahman, National Citizen Party member secretary Akhter Hossen, and first senior joint member secretary Dr Tasnim Jara joined the delegation at Prof Yunus’s invitation.

Speaking broadly at the UNGA, Prof Yunus warned, the “truth before us is frightening” and stressed that “extreme nationalism, geopolitics that thrive on the suffering of others, and indifference to human pain are destroying the progress humanity has built through decades of struggle”.

This tragedy is most visible in Gaza, he said, adding that the two-state solution must be implemented now.

Prof Yunus described three goals on which young people must be able to build the future: zero carbon, zero wealth concentration and zero unemployment. “Let the dream of a three-zero world be the dream of all nations.”