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Published on October 15, 2014
A VVIP flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines carrying the Prime Minister and members of her entourage took off from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport here at 10.05 am.
Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed, Agriculture Minister Begum Matia Chowdhury, Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Rashed Khan Menon, Cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan, 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 off the Prime Minister.
The flight is scheduled to reach Milan Malpensa International Airport at 3.50 (Milan time).
Sheikh Hasina will deliver a speech in the plenary of the ASEM Summit on 'Asia Partnership in addressing Global Matters in an Inter-connected World' on October 16.
She will attend official welcoming ceremony and opening ceremony of the Summit with other leaders.
On the sidelines of the Summit, the Prime Minister will hold bilateral meetings with Italian Prime Minister Mattero Renzi, Greek Prime Minister Antinious C Samaras, Swedish Prime Minister Stefen Lofven and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.
She will attend a reception of Bangladeshi community in Milan.
The Prime Minister will return home on October 18.
In 2012, Bangladesh became a member of the 51-member ASEM, an informal process of dialogue and cooperation bringing together the 29 European and 20 Asian countries along with European Union, Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Secretariat.
ASEM members are working with the objectives of strengthening the relationship between the two regions in a spirit of mutual respect and equal partnership on political, economic and cultural issues.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali held a briefing in the ministry here on Tuesday on the PM's visit to Italy.
Ali said the Prime Minister, in the Summit, will highlight Bangladesh's position on different important issues like climate change, millennium development goals (MDGs), disaster risk management and expanding connectivity between Asia and Europe.
Through the ASEM summit, he said, Bangladesh will be able to project its outlook to the European countries, the major development partners of Bangladesh.
"Bangladesh's participation in the ASEM Summit would make the country familiar with other member states as well as in the international arena as a responsible and active member of the organization," he added.
-Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS)
Photo: Yeasin Kabir Joy
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