The government will give VVIP protocol to and arrange foolproof security for four regional dignitaries who will arrive in Dhaka on July 24 to participate in a two-day regional conference to create awareness of autism, foreign ministry officials said.
The dignitaries are the Congress Party of India president, Sonia Gandhi, also the main adviser to the Action for Autism in India, Ilham Hussain, wife of Mohammed Waheed Hassan, the first elected vice-president of the Maldives, Pakistan's national assembly speaker Fehmida Mirza and Shiranthi Rajapaksa, wife of Mahinda Rajapaksa, the sixth president of Sri Lanka. Sonia Gandhi will join as chief guest the conference titled 'Autism spectrum disorders and developmental disabilities in Bangladesh and South Asia.'
The Centre for Neurodevelopment and Autism in Children of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University and the US-based Autism Speaks will organize the conference. The World Health Organisation is lending its support to the programme.
Saima Wazed Putul, daughter of the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, is convening the conference to be followed by a three-day training workshop, according to the BSMMU vice-chancellor, Pran Gopal Datta.
About 50 specialists from 12 countries will participate in the conference to be inaugurated in the Ruposhi Bangla Hotel.
Three hundred and seventy participants, including parents of children with autism, therapists, psychologists, and teachers and students of psychology from across the country will join the training workshops scheduled for July 27–29.
Sonia Gandhi will also receive Bangladesh Swadhinata Sammanana on behalf of her mother-in-law and former Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi for her outstanding contribution to Bangladesh's independence.
The president, Zillur Rahman, will hand over it to Sonia Gandhi in programme in Bangabhaban in the afternoon on July 25.
Source : New Age
