He is scheduled to arrive at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 10am and receive 19 Gun Salute. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will receive her Sri Lankan counterpart.
Rajapaksa will receive a Guard of Honour and inspect the guard. He is scheduled to visit the national memorial at Savar in the morning before attending the programme at the National Parade Ground in the afternoon as guest of Honour.
The Sri Lankan prime minister is scheduled to attend a cultural programme and banquet hosted by Prime Minister Hasina on Friday.
He will visit the Bangabandhu Memorial Museum on Saturday and have a meeting with his Bangladeshi counterpart. Both prime ministers will witness signing of MoUs. He will later pay a courtesy call on President Abdul Hamid at Bangabhaban before leaving Dhaka in the evening.
Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen is scheduled to see him off.
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A 10-day special programme kicked off in the city’s national parade square ground on March 17 marking Bangabandhu’s birth centenary and the Golden Jubilee of Independence.
Bangladesh is looking forward to sign many agreements and MoUs with a number of countries during the visits of their heads of state and government, including that of India.
The programmes, themed ‘Mujib Chirontan’, are being arranged maintaining all precautions as local and foreign guests will participate.
President Abdul Hamid was present on March 17. He will attend events on March 22 and 26 as well, while Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will attend the programmes on March 19, 22, 24 and 26. She attended the March 17 programme.
Heads of state and government of different countries will be present as guests of honour at the programmes on March 22, 24 and 26.
President of the Maldives Ibrahim Mohamed Solih was present as the guest of honour on March 17. Sri Lankan Prime Minister Rajapaksa will attend the programme as guest of honour on Friday.
Also read: Sri Lankan President for boosting cooperation with Bangladesh
President of Nepal Bidya Devi Bhandari will join the programme on March 22, Prime Minister of Bhutan Lotay Tshering on March 24 and Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi on March 26.
Besides, recorded speeches from heads of state and government of different countries, the chiefs of international organisations and prominent persons will be screened in the events of other five days.
Television channels, online media and social media will broadcast the programmes live every day.
On March 17, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau delivered welcome speeches at the programme. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen delivered his on March 18.
Recorded speeches from OIC Secretary General Yousef bin Ahmad Al-Othaimeen will be delivered on March 20, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on March 22, Pope Francis on March 24, South Korean Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun and Japanese friend of Bangladesh Takashi Hayakawa’s son Osamu Hayakawa on March 25.
The programme will begin at 4:30pm and conclude at 8pm on March 19, 22, 24 and 26. On the other five days, it will start at 5:16pm and end at 8pm.