Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen left Dhaka on Wednesday for Tashkent, Uzbekistan to attend an international conference titled “Central and South Asia: Regional Connectivity - Challenges and Opportunities” which begins on Thursday.

Dr Momen will hold a meeting with the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev during his stay there.

“I’ll thank the President of Uzbekistan on behalf of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina," said the Foreign Minister.

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He said he will also hold a number of bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the conference, including meetings with Indian External Affairs Minister Dr Jaishankar, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Dr Momen said he will discuss vaccine and Rohingya issues during his engagements in Tashkent. “Repatriation of Rohingyas remains our number one priority. We’ll seek additional efforts.”

He said China will give 10 lakh doses of Sinopharm vaccine as a gift to Bangladesh and he will discuss vaccine issues during his meeting with the Chinese Foreign Minister. “This is also very good news.”

Dr Momen said Bangladesh is a leader in terms of seeking wider connectivity and he will discuss with the Civil Aviation Minister of Uzbekistan to introduce direct Dhaka-Tashkent flight.

President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev is hosting the two-day global forum to strengthen regional connectivity in the context of the new open foreign policy strategy of Tashkent.

The idea is aimed at further deepening economic cooperation in Central Asia, with access to South Asia, which has historically been closely linked to this region in economic, social, cultural and civilizational dimensions.

Read: FM to join global conf on South, Central Asia connectivity in Tashkent

The Foreign Minister will return home on Monday (July 19) morning.

Conference Highlights 

The conference will be attended by the President of Uzbekistan, the President of Afghanistan, foreign ministers and high-profile representatives of the central and south Asian countries, other foreign states, heads of authoritative international and regional organizations, global financial institutions and companies, leading research and analytical centres.

The high-level international conference is intended to form a political and expert platform for multilateral discussion of the mutually beneficial strategic model - Central Asia - South Asia -in transport and logistics, energy, trade, industry, investment, technological, cultural and humanitarian domains.

The conference will consist of an opening ceremony, a plenary session, three breakout sessions and a final part.

The conference will be attended by more than 250 participants from over 40 countries and international organizations who have confirmed their participation.

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The opening ceremony of the International Institute of Central Asia (IICA) will take place in Tashkent on July 15 which will be attended by the ministers of foreign affairs of the Central Asian states and experts.

On July 16, the conference will start by the plenary session on Central and South Asia: Regional connectivity. During the meeting, Secretary-General of the United Nations António Guterres and the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, as well as the heads of state and government, and ministers of foreign affairs and international financial organizations will deliver their speeches.

The session will also consider the state of affairs and prospects of interregional cooperation in Central and South Asia, successful examples of cooperation, promising interconnected infrastructure projects.