Sharing knowledge and best practices and collectively exploring climate smart techniques for sustainable and climate resilient aquaculture and fisheries sectors would be the key factors of fostering regional collaboration between Bangladesh and ASEAN. Report UNB
Astanah Abdul Aziz, Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN for ASEAN Political Security Community and Sayeed Mahmood Belal Haider, Secretary, Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock agreed on this while speaking at the inaugural session of an international workshop on “Building Climate Resilience in Aquaculture and Fisheries: An ASEAN-Bangladesh Initiative” and a training on “Regional Knowledge Exchange to Apply Ecosystem Approaches in Managing Inland Fisheries: An ASEAN-Bangladesh Training Initiative” held on Monday at the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta.
As Special Guests, Additional Foreign Secretary (Bilateral-East and West) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Md. Nazrul Islam and Bangladesh Ambassador in Jakarta, Md. Tarikul Islam delivered remarks.
In addition, the session was attended by among others, Md Tofazzel Hossain, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock, Md. Rais Hasan Sarower, Director General of Regional Organizations Wing, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Syed Md. Alamgir, Director General, Department of Fisheries and Representatives from Permanent Missions of member countries to ASEAN, diplomats, bureaucrats, policy makers, researchers, academician, and participants from nine ASEAN countries and Bangladesh.
The Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock in association with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and ASEAN Secretariat have organized a three days long workshop and training under “ASEAN-Bangladesh Cooperation project in Fisheries and Aquaculture” with a view to strengthening cooperation between Bangladesh and ASEAN in this field.
It is expected that the experts from ASEAN and Bangladesh will share their experiences and best practices to come up with sets of valuable recommendations for forging new ways of collaborations between Bangladesh and ASEAN in the aquaculture sector.
Bangladesh has recently taken a number of initiatives to enhance its engagement with the ASEAN in its efforts to become a Sectoral Dialogue Partner of ASEAN.
In this endeavors, Bangladesh funded “ASEAN-Bangladesh Cooperation Project on Fisheries and Aquaculture”, the first ever project between ASEAN and Bangladesh will be completed with the closing of these workshops and training on May 29 in Jakarta.
Under that project, an international workshop on sustainable aquaculture was earlier organized in Mymensingh and Cox’s Bazar in March this year.
On the sideline of the inauguration, a bilateral meeting between Md. Rais Hasan Sarower, Director General of Regional Organizations Wing, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Astanah Abdul Aziz, Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN for ASEAN Political Security Community was held.
In the meeting, a fruitful discussion on inclusion of Bangladesh’s candidature as Sectoral Dialogue Partner of ASEAN in the upcoming ASEAN Senior Officials Meeting to be held in Vientiane in June 2024, enhancing cooperation in fisheries, information and communication technology, tourism, disaster management, trade and investment as well as holding of short course for mid-career diplomats from ASEAN in Foreign Service Academy this year were held.
