Bangladesh is set to float an idea of forming a regional bloc to develop partnership to use marine resources in a sustainable manner.
“We are going to initiate a process to form Bay of Bengal Partnership for Blue Economy comprising regional coastal states,” Foreign Secretary M Shahidul Haque told the Dhaka Tribune.
“The Bay of Bengal is full of resources and the government is going to prepare a national action plan to utilise it,” the foreign secretary said.
“We organised an international workshop on the blue economy last month to gain knowledge from the experts.”
Over 30 experts and government officials from 20 countries and organisations took part in the workshop.
The outcome document of the workshop said: [The government would] initiate ‘Bay of Bengal Partnership for Blue Economy’ to secure sustainable development among coastal/littoral states.”
“The joint statement on Bangladesh-India Joint Consultative Commission held last month also mentioned it,” he said.
In the JCC meeting, Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj congratulated her Bangladeshi counterpart AH Mahmood Ali for successfully organising the International Conference on Blue Economy in Dhaka last month.
“India sent a senior official to participate in the conference,” the official said, adding that the government would outreach other members to form the regional bloc.
Meanwhile, the foreign secretary attended a high-profile event hosted by US Secretary of State John Kerry in New York last month.
Officials and experts from over 16 countries, including New Zealand, Norway, Chile, Bloomberg Foundation and Rockfeller Foundation took part in the event.
However, Maritime Affairs Unit Secretary M Khurshed Alam is attending the Indian Ocean Rim Association ministerial meeting to gain knowledge about the blue economy.
Alam is leading a delegation at the IORA ministerial meeting to be held in Australia from October 8-9.
Bangladesh won more than 118,813 sq km of waters altogether comprising territorial sea and an exclusive economic zone extending out to 200 nautical miles (370km).
It also has undeniable sovereign rights in the seabed extending as far as 354 nautical miles [around 656km] from Chittagong coast in the Bay of Bengal with all living and non-living resources.
Some 30 million people of Bangladesh have had direct livelihood dependence on oceanic economic activities like fisheries and commercial transportation.