Bangladesh's participation in the 10th summit of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) will help the country appear as a 'responsible' and 'active' state at the global stage, said Foreign Minister (FM) AH Mahmood Ali in the city on Tuesday, reports UNB.
"We hope the summit will help Bangladesh get introduced with ASEM-members as a responsible and active state," he told a press conference at the Foreign Ministry.
State Minister for Foreign Affairs M Shahriar Alam, Foreign Secretary M Shahhidul Haque, Secretary (Bilateral) Mustafa Kamal and other senior officials were present at the conference.
The ASEM Summit, to be chaired by the President of the European Council and hosted by the Government of Italy, will be held in Milan between tomorrow (Thursday) and Friday (October 17).
The foreign minister said Sheikh Hasina will deliver her speech tomorrow (Thursday) at the plenary session of the summit highlighting Bangladesh's position on climate change issues, Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) achievements, post-2015 development strategy, disaster-risk reduction and on how Asia-Europe communication can be strengthened.
"Europe is the largest development partner of Bangladesh and the biggest export market for Bangladesh. Through ASEM, Asian countries can together uphold their attitudes towards the European countries," the minister said.
Responding to a question, the foreign minister said the Prime Minister will hold a series of meetings with a number of head of the governments.
"She'll hold talks with the Prime Ministers of Italy, the Netherlands, Greece and Sweden apart from holding a meeting with the European Council President."
The minister said two new countries - Kazakhstan and Croatia - will become members of ASEM which has 51 members. "Bangladesh has been always in favour of increasing members of ASEM. Bangladesh extended its supports to two new members."
The theme of the 10th ASEM Summit is 'Responsible Partnership for Growth and Security' that reflects the enlarging scope of the EU-Asia relationship.
The meeting will provide a key opportunity to convey a strong message of commitment to Asia, according to the ASEM.
Both Europe and Asia want to act responsibly, abiding by their joint commitment to environmental protection, social dialogue, eradicating poverty, promotion and protection of human rights.
ASEM is increasingly moving towards a broader-based partnership to address jointly global and regional challenges, according to its official website.
