Red carpet rolled out as President Hamid arrives in Assam

A red carpet was rolled out as President Md Abdul Hamid arrived at Guwahati International Airport in the Indian state of Assam on Thursday afternoon. The head of state has gone to India on an official five-day visit to attend the founding conference of International Solar Alliance (ISA) and the Solar Summit, jointly hosted by India and France in New Delhi. A VVIP flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines carrying the president and his entourage landed at the airport around 1:45pm. Upon his arrival at the airport, Hamid was received by Assam Governor Prof Jagdish Mukhi. Indian High Commissioner in Dhaka Harsh Vardhan Shringla and Bangladesh High Commissioner in New Delhi Syed Muazzem Ali were also present. The president will attend the founding conference of ISA and the Solar Summit on March 11. The conference will be held at the Cultural Centre of the President Bhaban in New Delhi. He will revisit his memorable places in Assam and Meghalaya as he was the sub-sector commander of the Bangladesh Liberation Force (Mujib Bahini) there during the 1971 Liberation War. He inspired and organized the Bangladeshi youths who took shelter at Gumaghat, Moilam and Balat in Meghalaya during the war. Hamid established a youth reception camp at Balat for Bangladeshi youths and acted as president of the camp at that time. President Hamid is scheduled to pay a courtesy call on Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and its Governor Mukhi in the afternoon. Later in the evening, he will attend a dinner hosted by the governor. He will visit Balaton on Friday and stay in Shillong, the capital of Indian state Meghalaya, at night. He will also attend a dinner there hosted by Meghalaya Governor Ganga Prasad. The president will go to New Delhi on Saturday and attend a dinner hosted by Indian President Ram Nath Kovind at the President Bhaban. Later, he will attend the inauguration session of the ISA founding conference on Sunday morning and also deliver his speech in the conference’s plenary session. He will also attend the lunch hosted by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the same day. President Hamid will return home on Monday. On November 30, 2015, India and France, at the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris, launched the ISA to boost solar energy in developing countries.