Dhaka, 21.04.2019:

A high-powered delegation led by State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md. Shahriar Alam is visiting Kuala Lumpur between 22 and 24 April 2019 for inviting the Malaysian leaders for participating in the upcoming Southeast Asian Cooperation (SEACO) Forum’s launching ceremonies in June. Senior corporate leaders from the country are also included in the delegation.

SEACO is conceived as a sub-regional initiative - connecting the countries in South and Southeast Asia - within the OIC framework - for eventually creating a free trade area where trade, technology, investment, finance and skills are shared and leveraged amongst the member states.  At this moment - the member states include Bangladesh, Brunei Dar-es-Salam, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Maldives. 

Result of more than two decades of negotiations at the Islamic Conference - SEACO is crystallising in shape under the enlightened leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina as its Chief Patron. 
It has a combined consumer market of more than four hundred million and a workforce of close to two hundred million. It is spread across an area of 2.3 million square kilometres. With a combined GDP (on PPP basis) of $1.5 trillion, the current trade stands at a volume of $770 Billion. The average GDP growth rate ranges between 4.6% - 6% per annum with Bangladesh currently leading at the top with 8.3% The SEACO initiative is aimed towards creating public-private synergies across Infrastructure, Energy, Capital Markets, Banking, Tourism, Food Security, Manufacturing and Logistics and various sectors of the Blue Economy. One of the core areas under intense focus at the SEACO is education and skills development - so that the human resource potentials of the member states could be magnified and harnessed constructively. This is very much in line with the Economic Diplomacy focus of the Foreign Office with Dr. A K Abdul Momen as the Foreign Minister and Md. Shahriar Alam at the Minister of State. 

It may also be mentioned that a formal invitation for the SEACO launch is also being conveyed during the Prime Minister’s visit to Brunei Dar-Es-Salaam on 21-23 April 2019.