Staff Reporter:
The Bangladesh government has offered cadet training scholarships named after Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman for training young sailors from poorer island countries and African states through International Maritime Organization (IMO).
The offer for affordable training was made for 10 cadets from Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and African Least Developed Countries (LDCs).
The proposal was made when IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Antonio Dominguez Velasco paid a courtesy call on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at the latter’s official residence Gono Bhaban on Thursday.
In response, the UN marine agency gladly accepted this offer, said PM’s Speechwriter Md Nazrul Islam while briefing reporters after the meeting.
In the meeting, different other issues including shipbuilding, ship recycling, maritime crimes and climate issues came up for discussion.
The IMO official document stressed the need for promoting gender equilibrium in the marine academies in Bangladesh.
In this regard, the PM said there was no girl cadet in the marine academies in the past. But her government introduced the enrollment of girls in the marine academies and many girls are enrolling in these.
About the ship recycling industry, the IMO secretary-general said Bangladesh is the largest ship recycling country. Bangladesh demonstrated its commitment to environmentally safe ship recycling by acceding to the Hong Kong Convention in June last year.
The Hong Kong convention, a treaty set up by IMO, is aimed at ensuring that ships, when being recycled after reaching the end of their operational lives, do not pose any unnecessary risks to humans and the environment.
The PM sought assistance from the IMO, a specialised agency of the United Nations, for strengthening Bangladesh’s safe ship recycling capacity.
“We are enhancing the safety measures in shipbuilding and ship recycling and we seek support from IMO,” she was quoted as saying.
She said Bangladesh has achieved remarkable progress in shipbuilding as the private sector alongside the government is building ships here and Bangladeshi ships are being exported to European countries as well.
The PM said sea transportation is very important for Bangladesh and stressed the need for ensuring safe water routes.
She expressed her satisfaction over the role of IMO in the quick release of Bangladeshi ship MV Abdullah hijacked by Somali pirates recently.
About the safety in the Bay of Bengal, Sheikh Hasina was quoted as saying, “We all together control the pirates here and such steps should be taken in other places.”
She said Bangladesh has increased the safety measures on the movement of inland water vessels as well, and therefore has successfully reduced the number of casualties.
The PM said the government has been trying to minimise the casualties and damages from cyclones and other natural disasters.
Arsenio Dominguez said the IMO is working on maritime crimes including human and drug trafficking.
PM’s Ambassador at-Large Mohammad Ziauddin, Principal Secretary M Tofazzel Hossain Miah, IMO Vice-President Saida Muna Tasneem and Bangladesh foreign ministry secretary Rear Admiral (retd) Khurshid Alam were present at the event, among others.
