Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will leave for Vienna today to attend the International Conference on the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Sixty Years and Beyond - Contributing to Development Program to be held from May 30-June
1. Bangladesh will discuss how effectively the global terrorism can be fought apart from discussing trade, investment and other bilateral issues during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's Austria tour.
"The relationship between Bangladesh and Austria is expected to get stronger with the visit," Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali said while briefing the media about the visit at his ministry yesterday morning.
Various global issues, including cooperation in implementing sustainable development goals (SDGs), migration, refugee crisis, climate change and the situation in the Europe after Brexit will also come up for discussions during the visit, he said.
The two countries are likely to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on Foreign Office Consultations (FOC) during the visit, Ali said. State Minister for Foreign Affairs M Shahriar Alam and Foreign Secretary M Shahidul Haque were present.
She is also expected to urge global leaders to shun nuclear proliferation and engage in peaceful use nuclear energy.
Marking the 60th anniversary of the IAEA's Technical Cooperation (TC) program, it brings together Member States and other partners to further develop partnerships in order to enhance the delivery of the TC program, the main mechanism through which the IAEA delivers assistance to United Nations Member States.
A special Biman Bangladesh flight carrying Hasina and her entourage will take off from Dhaka's Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 9am. She will leave Vienna and return home on May 30.
Leaders from Africa, Asia, Europe, South America and the Caribbean will attend the conference in Vienna called "International Conference on the Technical Cooperation Program: Sixty Years and Beyond - Contributing to Development".
Bangladesh became member of the IAEA in 1972. The prime minister's husband, late nuclear scientist Dr MA Wazed Miah played a key role to get the membership. The foreign minister said Austria is one of the first countries to recognize Bangladesh in 1972.
The then Austrian Federal Chancellor Bruno Kriesky supported Bangladesh. Hasina awarded him with the 'Friends of Liberation War Honor Award' in 2012. Bangladesh opened a resident mission in Vienna in 2014.
Ali said part of the government's 'broader engagement with Europe Policy,' they had taken steps to enhance bilateral relations and cooperation with Austria also.The Prime Minister will address the inaugural session on May 30, presided by Tebogo Joseph Seokolo, Chairman of IAEA Board of Governors at IAEA Headquarters in Vienna.
The meet will also be addressed by Tabaré Vázquez, President, Eastern Republic of Uruguay and Ameenah Gurib-Fakim, President, Republic of Mauritius. Yukiya Amano, Director General, IAEA and René Castro Salazar, Assistant Director-General, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) will also address the inaugural session.
The mandate of IAEA, the UN nuclear energy body is "to accelerate and enlarge the contribution of atomic energy to peace, health and prosperity throughout the world".
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