Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is scheduled to leave for Mongolia on Thursday morning to attend the 11th ASEM Summit which would issue a clear message to the international community that terrorism could never be tolerated.The Prime Minister will hold a series of important meetings during her three-day visit, said an official at the Foreign Ministry.
The meetings include meetings with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Mongolian President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj, Myanmar President Htin Kyaw, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, top leaders of the European Union (EU) and Italy.
She will leave Dhaka for Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia, at 11am on Thursday and will return home on July 16 evening, foreign ministry sources said.
After the worst-ever attack on a Dhaka café on July 1, Japanese Prime Minister Abe and Italian President Matteo Renzi had a telephone conversion and confirmed that counterterrorism measures would be taken up as an important topic at the Summit that will be held on July 15 to 16.
They said ASEM would issue a clear message of the international community that terrorism could never be tolerated.
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 ASEM dialogue addresses political, economic and cultural issues, with the objective of strengthening the relationship between their two regions, in a spirit of mutual respect and equal partnership.
The initial ASEM partnership in 1996 consisted of 15 EU member states and 7 Asean member states-plus China, Japan, Korea and the European Commission.
The ASEM Summit is a biennial meeting between heads of state and government, the President of the European Council, the President of the European Commission, and the Secretary-General of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).
