Dhaka – Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina left Dhaka on Thursday morning for Mongolia to attend the two-day 11th Asia-Europe Summit (ASEM) to be held at its capital Ulaanbaatar on July 15-16.
Ministers, PM’s advisers, the chiefs of the three services, the dean of the diplomatic corps and high civil and military officials were present at the airport to see the Prime Minister off.Bangladesh Ambassador to Mongolia Fazlul Karim and Chief of Staff of the President of Mongolia and the Ambassador at Large P. Tsagaan will receive the Prime Minister at the airport.
The Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) is an informal process of dialogue and cooperation bringing together 53 members, including the 28 European Union member states, two other European countries, and the European Union with 21 Asian countries and the Asean Secretariat.
The exclusively Asian-European forum was officially established on 1 March 1996 at the first summit in Bangkok, Thailand. Bangladesh joined the forum in 2012.
During the Summit, Sheikh Hasina and her Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe will co-chair a special discussion to be presented by other global leaders. On Friday, Hasina will attend the inaugural session of the Summit.
The Prime Minister will have meetings with Swiss President Johan Schneider, Russian Prime Minister Dimitry Medvedev, Japanese Premier Shinzo Abe, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Foreign Minister of Italy Paolo Gentiloni on Friday.
She will also attend a banquet to be hosted by the Mongolian President in honour of the guests at Mongol Gen at ASEM Village.
On Saturday, the Prime Minister will hold meetings with Myanmar President Htin Kyaw, Indian Vice President Hamid Ansari, President of European Council Donald Tusk and President of European Commission Jean Claude Junker. She will also join a retreat session of the ASEM
leaders.
The Bangladesh Prime Minister, in the meeting with the world leaders, is likely to highlight the country’s security situation and the government’s firm commitment to tackling terrorism and extremism in the aftermath of two recent terror attacks in Bangladesh.
The ASEM member countries are: Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Cambodia, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan,
the Lao PDR, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Mongolia, Myanmar, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland,
Thailand, the United Kingdom and Vietnam. The European Union and ASEAN Secretariat are the regional organisations involved in it. – Agencies
