Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina leaves Dhaka today (Tuesday) for Indonesia, where she will join other Asian and African leaders at the Asia-Africa Summit that begins tomorrow (Wednesday) in its capital Jakarta.
The five-day (April 22-24) summit is aimed at re-energising economic activities between the two continents and further consolidating the Cold War era spirit that gave birth to the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM).
Besides celebrating the 60th anniversary of the historic conference in Bandung it will also mark the 10th anniversary of the New Asian-African Strategic Partnership to be held in Bandung. The theme of the summit is Strengthening South-South Cooperation to Promote World Peace and Prosperity.
The Prime Minister will lead a 59-member delegation, including seven businesspersons, to the summit. About 28 heads of state and government, 18 from Asian and 10 from African countries, are expected to attend it.
Besides attending the inaugural and concluding sessions, she will also address a plenary session, said State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam while speaking at a press conference at his office on Monday.
The Prime Minister is also expected to hold meetings with a number of world leaders, including the Japanese Prime Minister, and heads of state and governments from Nepal, Myanmar, Singapore and Palestine.
They will discuss various bilateral, regional and international issues of common interest. Sheikh Hasina is also likely to hold a meeting with Indonesian Prime Minister Joko Widodo.
Among others, Foreign Minister AH Mahmud Ali, Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque and the Prime Minister's Office secretary will also attend various programmes with the Prime Minister in the summit.
The foreign minister attended the ministerial meeting there on April 20, which was followed by a series of meetings with senior officials.
The New Asian-African Strategic Partnership was agreed upon during the last Asia-Africa Summit in April 2005, to bolster Asian-African cooperation, focusing on the three broad pillars of partnership - political solidarity, economic cooperation and socio-cultural connectivity.
mzrbd@yahoo.com
