UNB, Dhaka :
Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali left here on Friday afternoon for Myanmar to attend the Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Regional Forum (ARF) meeting being held in Nay Pyi Taw, the capital of Myanmar.
Bangladesh has taken serious interest in the developments in Asean countries and in Asean itself, and was therefore contemplating to become a member of Asean Regional Forum (ARF), an offshoot of the Asean and later joined ARF.
For the last few years, Bangladesh has been pursuing to become Asean Dialogue Partner, for which there is a moratorium on its expansion up to the end of 2015, the Foreign Minister said before his departure. The Foreign Minister is expected to return home on Monday next, said an official at the Foreign Ministry.
A three-day meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the 10- member Asean began in Nay Pyi Taw, the capital of Myanmar, on Friday morning with an address by President Thein Sein.
The meeting will expand tomorrow as its dialogue partners join discussions at the Asean Regional Forum, a key annual meeting for discussions of security issues across Asia.
Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam are the members of the Asean that was formed in Aug 1967.
