The Secretary-General began his official visit to Bangladesh this morning by travelling by helicopter to the National Martyr’s Memorial at Savar northwest of the capital, which honours the memory of the millions of Bangladeshis who died in the struggle for independence. The Secretary-General laid a wreath at the base of the 150 foot-tall monument, then planted a tree in the surrounding gardens.

  He then flew to the Peace-keeping Operation Training Centre (PKOTC) in Rajendrapur, where he was briefed on the training programme for Bangladeshi military before they serve in UN peace-keeping missions. Bangladesh is currently the second-largest contributor of troops to the UN, with some 4,500 soldiers on various UN missions worldwide. He witnessed a field demonstration on the site, involving a helicopter and armored personnel carriers, showing how a Rapid Reaction Unit would rescue kidnapped military observers. He was briefed on plans to expand the centre from a staff of about 40 to more than 300, and he unveiled a plaque marking the beginning of construction of the expanded site. He met with former Bangladeshi peacekeepers and with a group of relatives of the 16 Bangladeshi peace-keepers and civilian police officers who lost their lives in UN operations in various parts of the world.

  The Secretary-General returned to Dhaka and was joined by his wife Nane to visit the Bangabandhu (Father of the Nation) Museum -- the house where Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Bangladesh’s first President, was shot by assassins in 1975, along with 14 friends and members of his family. His daughter, Sheikh Hasina, who was abroad at the time, is the current Prime Minister. The Secretary-General placed a wreath at a portrait of the late President, with the inscription "With our deepest respect -- the Secretary-General and Mrs. Nane Annan".

  He then met with Foreign Minister Abdus Samad Azad for a review of a range of foreign policy issues – the global trading system and least developed countries, democracy and human rights, sanctions regimes, regional stability, follow-up to the Millennium Summit, financing for development, and others. The Secretary-General said he looked forward to receiving the report of the Security Council’s Working Group on Sanctions, chaired by Bangladesh’s Permanent Representative in New York, Anwarul Karim Chowdhury. Their discussions continued in a more informal manner during a luncheon hosted by the Foreign Minister.

  In the afternoon, the Secretary-General and Mrs. Annan were received by the President of Bangladesh, Justice Shahabuddin Ahmed in the office of the Presidency. They discussed a variety of issues, particularly related to the Constitution of Bangladesh and the country's commitment to democratic political processes.

  The Secretary-General then went to the International Conference Centre next to the office of the Prime Minister, where he delivered his first major policy address of the year on an environmental theme, titled "Sustainable Development: Humanity’s Biggest Challenge in the New Century". Bangladesh, he said, "is expected to suffer, more than almost any other place on earth, the devastating impact of climate change". He predicted cleaner energy in this century, called on the US, Japan and the European Union, the major sources of carbon emission, to adopt the Kyoto Protocol on control of greenhouse gasses, and laid out a four-part strategy that developing countries could adopt to help. Policy making is moving in the right direction, he said, but is moving too slowly. The challenge is to take what seems like an abstract idea – sustainable development -- and turn it into a daily reality.

  In the evening, the Secretary-General and Mrs. Annan was invited to an official dinner in the residence of the Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, attended by more than 50 ministers, parliament members and senior civil servants.