PM off to Mongolia to attend Asia-Europe Summit

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday left Dhaka for Mongolia to attend the two-day 11th Asia-Europe Summit which will be held in Ulaanbaatar on July 15-16.

A VVIP flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines, carrying the prime minister and her entourage, took off from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in the morning around 11:30am.

Ministers, PM’s advisers, 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 the prime minister off.

The flight is scheduled to reach Chinggis Khaan International Airport at Ulaanbaatar at 7:55pm (local time).

During the Summit, Hasina and her Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe will co-chair a special discussion to be presented by other global leaders.

The exclusively Asian-European forum was officially established on March 1, 1996 at the first summit in Bangkok, Thailand where Bangladesh joined in 2012.

The ASEM member countries are: Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Cambodia, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, the Lao PDR, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Mongolia, Myanmar, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, the United Kingdom and Vietnam.