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 in fostering regional collaboration between Bangladesh and ASEAN. Dato’ Astanah Abdul Aziz, Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN for ASEAN Political-Security Community, and Mr. Sayeed Mahmood Belal Haider, Secretary of, the 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 27 May 2024 at the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta. As Special Guests, the Additional Foreign Secretary (Bilateral-East and West) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Md. Nazrul Islam, and the Bangladesh Ambassador in Jakarta, Mr. Md. Tarikul Islam delivered remarks. In addition, the session was attended by among others, Mr. Md Tofazzel Hossain, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock, Mr, Md. Rais Hasan Sarower, Director General of Regional Organizations Wing, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Syed Md. Alamgir, Director General, Department of Fisheries and Representatives from Permanent Missions of member countries to ASEAN, diplomats, bureaucrats, policymakers, researchers, academicians, 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 days long workshop and training under the “ASEAN-Bangladesh Cooperation project in Fisheries and Aquaculture” to strengthen 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 collaboration between Bangladesh and ASEAN in the aquaculture sector.
The Government of Bangladesh has recently taken several initiatives to enhance its engagement with the ASEAN in its efforts to become a Sectoral Dialogue Partner of ASEAN. In this endeavor, the Bangladesh Government funded the “ASEAN-Bangladesh Cooperation Project on Fisheries and Aquaculture”, the first-ever project between ASEAN and Bangladesh will be completed with the closing of this workshop and training on 29 May 2024 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 Mr, Md. Rais Hasan Sarower, Director General of Regional Organizations Wing, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and H.E. Dato’ Astanah Abdul Aziz, Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN for ASEAN Political Security Community were held. In the meeting, fruitful discussion on the 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 a short course for mid-career diplomats from ASEAN in Foreign Service Academy this year were held.