<div style="text-align: justify; "><b style="font-size: 1rem;">UN Under Secretary General for Department of Peace Operations Jean Pierre Lacroix is scheduled to visit Bangladesh on June 25-26.</b><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He will be visiting Bangladesh at the invitation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, officials said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The UN Under-Secretary-General will join a preparatory discussion of the 2023 UN Peacekeeping Ministerial Meeting (UNPKM) during his stay in Dhaka.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The United Nations Peacekeeping Ministerial is an important opportunity for Member States to come together in a collective effort to strengthen the effectiveness of peacekeeping operations and their impact on the communities they serve, according to UN.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In 2023, the Peacekeeping Ministerial will be hosted by Ghana in Accra on 5-6 December.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It is the latest in a series of meetings held at the Head of State, Government, or Ministerial level since 2014, including in Seoul in 2021.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The discussions will focus on concrete measures to improve operations in line with ongoing reform through Action for Peacekeeping, A4P+ and the Digital Transformation Strategy.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">With missions facing greater challenges than ever, the Ministerial will focus on protection of civilians, strategic communications (including addressing mis-disinformation and hate speech), safety and security, the mental health of peacekeepers, and women in peacekeeping as outlined in the Concept Note.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Bangladesh is one of the largest contributors to UN peacekeeping operations.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The South Asian nation first deployed uniformed personnel to serve with the Organization in 1988 when they were deployed to help monitor the armistice between Iran and Iraq.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Over the past three decades, the contributions of these brave men and women in the countries in which they serve have been immense, according to UN.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Meanwhile, Catherine Pollard, UN Under-Secretary-General for Management Strategy, Policy and Compliance, arrived in Dhaka on Friday.&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Resident Representative, UNDP Bangladesh Stefan Liller welcomed her on behalf of the UN office in Bangladesh.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The two top UN officials are scheduled to meet Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina during the visit. UNB</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>