Prime minister Sheikh Hasina returned home on Tuesday after a seven-day visit to Sweden and Qatar. She landed at Zia International Airport at 6pm. Hasina flew to the Swedish capital Stockholm on Oct 20 where she attended the European Development Days conference.

The prime minister, addressing the conference on Saturday, stressed the urgency for worldwide action on climate change, seeking a "realistic" fund for Bangladesh and other vulnerable countries to viably face the fallout of global warming. Hasina said Bangladesh and other countries most at risk to climate change impacts are anxiously looking forward to the Copenhagen talks in December, where the outcome "must uphold the core principle of common but differentiated share of responsibilities for assured, adequate and easily accessible funding for adaptation".

The prime minister went on to Doha on Sunday on an invitation from her counterpart, Qatar's Ameer and prime minister Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Athlani. In the meeting Sheikh Hamad expressed interest to invest more towards the development of Bangladesh and assured Hasina of recruiting more manpower, the prime minister's press secretary Abul Kalam Azad said. Qatar will send a high profile business delegation to Bangladesh next year to see the investment environment in Bangladesh.

-bdnews