President Mohammed Shahabuddin returned home on Saturday (Sep 16) evening wrapping up his 13-day visit to Indonesia and Singapore. A VVIP aircraft of Biman Bangladesh Airlines carrying the President and his entourage members landed at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, Dhaka at 6.35 p.m. Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Haque, cabinet secretary, principal secretary to the Prime Minister's Office, dean of the Diplomatic Corps, Indonesian ambassador to Bangladesh, chiefs of the three services, inspector general of police and high civil and military officials received the president at the VVIP lounge of the airport. The flight earlier took off from Changi International Airport in Singapore at 4:22 p.m. (Singapore time), local media reported.
The President flew to Singapore from Indonesian capital Jakarta on Sep 8. He left Dhaka for Jakarta by a commercial flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines Limited on Sep 4.
In Indonesia, President Shahabuddin attended the 43rd "ASEAN Summit", the 18th "East Asia Summit" and other several bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the three-day summits at Jakarta convention Centre (JCC) from Sep 5-7.
At the invitation of his Indonesian counterpart Joko Widodo (Jokowi), who was also the chair of the 43rd summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN, Bangladesh President went to Jakarta where he stayed for five days from Sep 4-8.
The President attended the 43rd ASEAN summit and other related summits under the chairmanship of Indonesian President Jokowi.
With the theme of "ASEAN Matters: Epicentrum of Growth", President Shahabuddin, along with his wife attended the summit's opening ceremony in the morning of Sep 5. Chairperson of Bangladesh National Advisory Committee on Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders Saima Wazed and Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen also accompanied the President there.
The opening ceremony of the 43rd ASEAN Summit was not only attended by 10 organizational leaders from ASEAN countries and some state leaders, head of the state and the government, but partner countries also participated in it.
Hosts country Indonesia has invited as many as 27 world leaders and international bodies, the executive directors of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank for Jakarta ASEAN Summit, said ASEAN secretary general.
The President also held separate bilateral meetings with his Indonesian counterpart Joko Widodo and Secretary-General of Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) Dr Salman Al Farisi on Sep 6.
On the sidelines of the Summit, the Bangladesh President attended the 18th "East Asia Summit (EAS) and delivered his speech as the chair of guest on Sep 7.
He raised different south ASEAN issues focusing on Rohingya crisis in Myanmar coincided with the problems that Bangladesh is now facing centering the repatriation of forcibly displaced 1.2 million Myanmar nationals who have taken shelter in Bangladesh's territory a seven-year back.
Meanwhile, on the sidelines of the event, Bangladesh President exchanged greetings with some world leaders. They are: Secretary General of the United Nations Antonio Manuel de Oliveira Guterres, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi, United States Vice-President Kamala Harris, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Prime Minister of Vietnam Pham Minh Chinh and Prime Minister of the Lao People's Democratic Republic Sonexay Siphandone.
