Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will visit Italy, Nepal and Malaysia in the next three months.
She is scheduled to attend the 10th ASEM Summit in Milan this month while the 18th SAARC Summit in Nepal in November and expected to visit Kuala Lumpur in December.
Hasina is scheduled to attend the 10th ASEM Summit of Heads of State and Government to be hosted by Italy from October 16-17 and chaired by the European Union.
Heads of state and government of 27 European countries and the European Commission along with their counterparts from 16 Asian countries will take part in the summit.
In 2012, Bangladesh joined Asia Europe Meeting (ASEM) comprising 49 countries and organisations in Europe and Asia.
ASEM deals with social, economical and development issues in which Bangladesh has immense interest, said a senior official of the Foreign Ministry.
Many small countries are also the members of the ASEM, but Bangladesh does not have much interaction with them, he added.
“This type of forum gives an opportunity to interact with the leaders of those countries over a cup of coffee and find new areas of cooperation or resolve disputed issues, if any.”
The ASEM started its journey in 1996 with 26 members in Bangkok to build a new partnership between Asia and Europe and it is the only platform where countries from the regions can exclusively interact with each other.
Saarc Summit
The Saarc programme will begin on November 22 and the summit will be held from November 26-27.
“Prior to the summit, there will be senior official meeting, foreign secretary level meeting followed by Saarc ministerial meeting,” said another senior official of the Foreign Ministry.
The ministerial meeting will finalise the declaration of the Saarc summit and submit it to the summit for approval, he added.
“This year the Saarc summit will focus on connectivity as there is a thrust from the member countries to integrate the region for the welfare of the people,” he said.
The member countries are negotiating deals on motor vehicles and railways for getting approval in the summit.
“We are working on the issue. If it is through in the summit, it will have a big impact on improving connectivity in the region,” the official said.
Under the motor vehicle agreement, private cars, commercially-run buses, ambulances and commercial cargoes can move across the region.
Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Afghanistan are the members of Saarc.
Malaysia Visit
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak visited Dhaka in November last year after attending the 23rd Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Colombo.
“This will be a return bilateral visit by the Bangladesh prime minister,” said an official concerned.
Kuala Lumpur has proposed December 3 as the visit date, but Dhaka is yet to take any decision in this regard, he said.
Manpower export and investment issues would figure high on the agenda during the official talks between Hasina and her Malaysian counterpart, the official said.
Both the governments are also working on two other instruments – cooperation in science and technology and culture – and those might be signed during the visit, he added.
After assuming office for the second term in January, the prime minister visited Myanmar for Bimstec Summit, Japan and China on bilateral trips, attended Girls Summit in London, and UN General Assembly in New York.
