President M Abdul Hamid will leave Dhaka for Tajikistan and Uzbekistan on a seven-day official visit on Thursday.

‘During his seven-day visit to the central Asian nations, the President will attend the fifth summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence

Building Measures in Asia (CICA) at Tajik capital Dushanbe . . . He will also start his visit to Uzbekistan on June 16,’ President Press Secretary Joynal Abedin told BSS.

He said a VVIP flight (BG-1516 ) of Biman Bangladesh Airlines carrying the President and his entourage members, including his spouse Rashida Khanam and

official concerned of foreign ministry and Bangabhaban, will take off Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 4:00pm Tursday.

The head of the state will deliver his speech at the CICA summit in Dushanbe on June 15.

The CICA is a multi-national forum for enhancing cooperation towards promoting peace, security and stability in Asia.

The objectives of the CICA also include eradicating the menace of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, combating illicit drug production and trafficking, and promoting trade and economic cooperation for the prosperity and stability in Asia.

President Hamid, in his address in the fifth CICA summit, will clear Bangladesh’s stance in these regard, Abedin said.

The CICA has 27 member states: These are – Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Egypt, India, Iran, Iraq, Israel,

Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Russia, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.

It has also eight observer countries. These are – Belarus, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Ukraine and USA.

Five international organizations, including the United Nations, International Organization for Migration (IOM), Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), League of Arab States and Parliamentary Assembly of the Turkic Speaking Countries (TURKPA) are too associated with it.

The CICA member states cover about 90 percent of the territory and population of Asia, according to CICA secretariat.

The upcoming fifth CICA Summit is expected to be attended by top officials from 20 countries.

President Hamid is scheduled to return home on June 19, the press secretary added.