Online Desk: President Mohammed Shahabuddin on Monday left for Jakarta, Indonesia to attend the 43rd ASEAN Summit and 18th East Asia Summit to be held on September 5-7. A regular flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines, carrying the President along with his spouse Prof Rebecca Sultana and other entourage members, departed from Hazrat Shahjalal (R.) International Airport (HSIA) for Jakarta at 8:30 am.

Among others, Chairperson of Bangladesh National Advisory Committee on Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders Saima Wazed and Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen will accompany the President during the visit. Shahabuddin has been invited by the President of the Republic of Indonesia and ASEAN Chair for 2023 Joko Widodo, Press secretary Joynal Abedin said.

With the theme of “Asean Matters: Epicentrum of Growth”, the ASEAN Summit will be held with a hectic agenda for three days. The Bangladesh president, on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit, will also attend the ‘East Asia Summit’ slated for September 7.

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 September 6, 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.

The leaders of the Pacific Island Forum, the Prime Minister of Canada, the Executive Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the World Bank (World Bank) are also reportedly planning to attend the ASEAN Summit. From Jakarta President Shahabuddin along with his spouse will 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.