In ASEM Summit, Bangladesh is considered as an important partner to fight terrorism: HPM Sheikh Hasina

Addressing a press conference, the Premier also said the role of Bangladesh in taming terrorism and violent extremism was not only praised in the ASEM, the country was also recognized as an "important partner" by the international community in this regard.

"The role of Bangladesh in establishing peace and rule of law has got special recognition internationally," she added.

The press conference was convened at Ganobhaban, the official residence of the PM, here on Sunday afternoon to brief the media about the outcomes of her visit to Mongolia to attend the ASEM.

Public Administration Minister and Awami League General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam, Information Minister Hasanul Haque Inu, Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali, PM's Media Advisor Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam and AL Presidium Member Advocate Sahara Khatun were present on the dais, while PM's Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim moderated the press conference.

The Prime Minister said the 11th ASEM was held in the Mongolian capital of Ulaanbaatar on July 15-16 and she led the Bangladesh delegation to the summit.

Sheikh Hasina said there was a special significance of this year's ASEM as the grouping stepped into the third decade by completing two decades of its establishment.

Simultaneously, she said, the summit got special dimension due to existing migration crisis in Europe and the Nice terror attack in France.

Besides, she said, the top leaders of Asia and Europe gathered through the meeting for the first time after the UN set sustainable development goals and the signing of Paris Climate Agreement.

Sheikh Hasina informed that the heads of state and government of 33 countries of Asia and Europe, the ASEAN secretary general, the presidents of European Council and European Commission as well as the foreign ministers of 17 countries joined the two-day summit.

The Prime Minister said the heinous attack on the French city of Nice took place, hours before the commencement of the two-day ASEM summit in Mongolia.

Sheikh Hasina said she strongly denounced the barbaric attack on Nice city. "I am praying for salvation of the departed souls and conveying sympathies to the bereaved families," she said.

The Premier said the news of military coup in Turkey surfaced during the ASEM summit. "We are always against grabbing power unconstitutionally and the Turkish people have proved that 'people are the main strength' by foiling the efforts of capturing power unconstitutionally," she said.

Against the backdrop of the brutal attack in France, she said the issue of international initiative to combat terrorism and militancy dominated the first day of the meeting and the concluding day retreat session of the heads of state and government.

Sheikh Hasina said while speaking at the Plenary of 11th ASEM Summit, she laid importance on smooth connectivity among all countries and communities to secure peace, stability and prosperity saying connectivity should be taken as a strategic opportunity.

"Connectivity is indeed no longer a 'choice' for any community, it is about seizing 'strategic opportunity," she said.

The Prime Minister said she highlighted Bangladesh's stance on different regional and international issues with the world leaders in the retreat meeting of ASEM Summit.

She said she also reiterated her government's zero tolerance policy against terrorism and called for finding out the roots of terrorism and violent extremism.

"Simultaneously, I called for taking proper action against masterminds of the terrorists and militants along with identifying their patrons, idea generators, financiers, arms suppliers and trainers to eliminate them," she said.

On the sidelines of the summit, Sheikh Hasina said, she held bilateral meetings with German Chancellor Angela Markel, Swiss President Johan Schneider-Ammann and Mongolian President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj, Myanmar President Htin Kyaw, Indian Vice President M Hamid Ansari, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Russian Prime Minister Dimitry Medvedev, Dutch Premier Mark Rutte, Mongolian President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj while Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni Silveri called on her.

She said she also held informal meetings with the heads of state and government of Belgium, Indonesia, Estonia, Lithuania and Cyprus.

The Prime Minister said during the meetings with the Indian vice president, the Japanese premier and the Italian foreign minister, she expressed deep shock at the deaths of foreign nationals, who were killed in the July 1 terrorist attack in Gulshan and conveyed sympathies to the bereaved families.

"I assured them that as per the needs, any help would be taken from the friendly countries including Japan, Italy and India in the interest of the fair investigation into the cowardly act," she said.

Sheikh Hasina said she firmly told the ASEM leaders that Bangladesh has taken all sorts of measures to check recurrence of such incidents in the light of her government's "zero tolerance policy" against terrorism. In the meetings, she said, the Indian, Japanese and Italian leaders highly praised Bangladesh's timely and prompt steps to tackle the situation.

She said during the meeting with Japanese premier, they described terrorism and violent extremism as a global problem. "We agreed on bilateral and regional cooperation to face terrorism," she said.

The Japanese premier, she said, assured that there won't have any adverse impact on Japanese development assistance or investment in Bangladesh and releasing of six billion dollars pledged by Japan due to the Gulshan attack. Sheikh Hasina said the Italian foreign minister identified terrorism as a global problem and assured that there won't be any impact on expatriate Bangladeshis living in Italy due to the Gulshan attack.

The Prime Minister said the German chancellor highly appreciated the steps the Bangladesh government took for achieving food security and expansion of education, especially for the underprivileged women and children.