Dhaka, Nov 5 (bdnews24.com) – Bangladesh on Monday formally joined the 52-nation Asia Europe Meeting (ASEM) aimed at boosting cooperation among the Eurasian nations.
The induction of Bangladesh happened with two other countries- Norway and Switzerland in a ceremony prior to launching of the 9th Summit of ASEM at Vientiane, the capital of Laos.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina attended the ceremony and thanked all members of the 17-year-old forum for their support while expressing her ‘profound delight’ to be a new member of the mega-gatherings, her Press Secretary Abul Kalam Azad told bdnews24.com.
Themed–Friends for Peace, Partners for Prosperity–the two-day summit is being held with the largest gatherings of top political leaders.
Chairman of the Summit and Prime Minister of Laos Thongsing Thammavong welcomed Bangladesh, Norway and Switzerland in the biggest Asia-Europe forum aimed at providing a forum for policymakers and officials of the two neighboring continents for cooperation on political, economic and social issues ‘based on mutual respect and belief.’
Addressing the induction function, Sheikh Hasina promised to contribute to the ASEM process.
She hoped the member countries from Asia would be able to work with the European friends in seeking convergence on various global as well as regional challenges and opportunities.
The Prime Minister stressed better economic ties between the two continents, despite diversity and differences.
ASEM is a dialogue process that started in 1996 with the main objective of forging a comprehensive partnership between Asia and Europe in political, socio-economic, education, security and cultural fields.
Among the 48 founding members of ASEM, 19 belong to Asia, including 10 from the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), and 27 to the European Union. The European Commission and the ASEAN Secretariat are also members of the charter.
China, India, Myanmar, Pakistan and Thailand are among the Asian members in the ASEM, in which Australia also is a founder member along with the United Kingdom.
The First ASEM summit was held in the Thai capital Bangkok on March 1-2, 1996, under the theme of “Promoting the Establishment of All-round, New Asia-Europe Partnership”.
The last ASEM summit was held in Brussels on October 4-5, 2010.
Source: bdnews24.com/nih/jr/1744h
