President Shahabuddin Joins 43rd Asean Summit

President Mohammed Shahabuddin along with his wife Dr Rebecca Sultana Tuesday joined the opening ceremony of the 43rd Asean Summit.

The opening ceremony of the Summit was held at the Jakarta convention center with the theme of "Asean Matters: Epicentrum of Growth".

Indonesian President Joko Jokowi Widodo officially opened the summit.

President Shahabuddin also participated in a group photo session with state leaders in the plenary hall of the convention centre after the opening ceremony.

Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen and Chairperson of Bangladesh National Advisory Committee on Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders Saima Wazed are also accompanying the president during the visit.

President Mohammed Shahabuddin on Monday arrived in Jakarta, Indonesia to attend the 43rd Asean Summit and the 18th East Asia Summit to be held on September 5-7.

Indonesian Minister of Environment and Forestry Siti Nurbaya Bakar and Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen welcomed the president and his entourage upon their arrival at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, Jakarta at 1730 (local time) after one hour and 50 minutes of stopover at Changi International Airport, Singapore.

His arrival was welcomed with traditional Indonesian dances at the airport.

Earlier in the day, a regular flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines, carrying the president along with his spouse Rebecca Sultana and other entourage members, left Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) for Jakarta at 8:30am.

Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Huq, dean of the diplomatic corps, cabinet secretary, chiefs of the three defence services, inspector general of police (IGP) and senior civil and military officials saw him off at the airport.

President Shahabuddin has been invited by the President of the Republic of Indonesia and the Asean Chair for 2023 Joko Widodo.

The Bangladesh president, on the sidelines of the Asean summit, will also attend the “East Asia Summit” slated for Thursday.

Alongside, the president will deliver the concluding speech on "Strengthening Regional Architecture to Support the Epicentrum of Growth from the Perspective of IORA" as the "Guest of Chair" there.

He will also have separate bilateral meetings with his Indonesian counterpart Joko Widodo and state leaders of Thailand, Malaysia and Timor-Leste.

On Wednesday, the president will attend a “Gala Dinner” to be hosted by the Indonesian president at Hutan Kota Gelora Bung Karno.

Joko Widodo will chair 12 meetings during the 43rd Asean Summit. The Asean is an intergovernmental organization of 11 Southeast Asian countries - Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Timor Leste or East Timor. The Asean Summit is a biannual meeting held by its members.

The Indonesian president will also chair the 18th East Asia Summit (EAS), which consists of 18 members, including the 10 Asean countries, the United States, the Russian Federation, New Zealand, Australia, China, Japan, South Korea, and India, according to the Asean secretariat.

From Jakarta, President Shahabuddin along with his spouse will go to Singapore for a health check-up.

He is expected to return home from Singapore on September 16, according to the revised schedule._UNB