The Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations jointly held two-day long ‘Bangladesh Blue Economy Dialogue on Fisheries and Mariculture starting from 19 February 2019 at Hotel Pan Pacific Sonargaon, Dhaka.
The dialogue was organized aiming to convene key stakeholders and resource persons to identify, discuss and reach a consensus on the essential enabling conditions and facilitators for fisheries and aquaculture to contribute meaningfully and sustainably to the blue economy of Bangladesh.
Hon’ble State Minister, Ministry of Fisheries & Livestock, Mr Ashraf Ali Khan Khasru, MP attended as the Chief Guest of the Inaugural session while Rear Admiral (Retd.) Md. Khurshed Alam, BN, Secretary, Maritime Affairs Unit, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Mr Robert D Simpson were the Special Guests. The Inaugural Session was chaired by Mr Md Raisul Alam Mondal, Secretary, and Ministry of Fisheries & Livestock.
In addition to the Inaugural Session, two-day long Dialogue comprised of six technical Sessions namely :
1. Mainstreaming and Institutionalizing the Blue Economy in Bangladesh for long-term growth to be Chaired by Rear Admiral (Retd) Md. Khurshed Alam, BN Secretary, Maritime Affairs Unit, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bangladesh tbc;
2. Potential of the Blue economy to meet sustainable development needs and leverage opportunities in Bangladesh to be chaired by: Mr Abul Kalam Azad, Principal Coordinator (SDG Affairs), Prime Minister’s Office.
3. Operationalizing the Blue Economy – Enhancing Sectoral Performance in Coastal and Offshore Marine Fisheries and Aquaculture, to be chaired by :Chair: Mr Sajjadul Hassan, Secretary, Prime Minister’s Office;
4. Operationalizing the Blue Economy – Adding Value to Existing Value Chains and Sustainably Developing New Value Chains through Multi-Sectoriality to be chaired by : Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad, Chairman, PKSF;
5. Macro-trends in Bangladesh—Needs and Opportunities for Sustainable Development -to be chaired by : Dr. Shamsul Alam, Member(Senior Secretary), GED;
6. Next Steps—Mainstreaming of Blue Economy Endeavours; to be chaired by: Mr Md Raisul Alam Mondal, Secretary, Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock.
The output of the dialogue was consisted of descriptions of the enabling conditions and the strategy guides to create those enabling conditions. The output is expected to inform as well as contribute to the impetus for the execution or development of a number of endeavors.
These include the Bangladesh’s 8th Five-Year National Development Plan, national implementation of the Bay of Bengal Large Marine Ecosystem (LME) Strategic Action Plan (SAP), the World Bank assisted Bangladesh Sustainable Coastal and Marine Fisheries Project, the National Aquaculture Strategy and Action Plan, the National Action Plan for climate change adaptation and more. Broad criteria will be proposed as a basis for eventual prioritization of proposed initiatives.
