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Bangladesh has offered cadet training scholarships after Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in the country’s five government marine academies for foreigners through the International Maritime Organization (IMO).
The scholarship has been offered for 10 cadets from Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and African Least Developed Countries (LDCs).
This proposal was made when IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Antonio Dominguez Velasc paid a courtesy call to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at the latter’s official residence Ganabhaban on Thursday.
In response, the UN marine agency IMO gladly accepted this offer, said PM’s Speechwriter Md Nazrul Islam while briefing reporters after the meeting.
In the meeting, other issues including shipbuilding, ship recycling, maritime crimes and climate issues came up for discussion.
The IMO official document stressed the need to promote 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 the academies.
About the ship recycling industry, the IMO secretary-general said Bangladesh is the largest ship recycling country. Bangladesh demonstrated its high commitment to environmentally safe ship recycling by acceding to the Hong Kong Convention in June last.
The Hong Kong Convention, a treaty set up by the UN shipping agency the International Maritime Organization (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 human health, safety and the environment.
The PM sought assistance from the IMO, a specialised agency of the United Nations, for strengthening safe ship recycling here in Bangladesh.
“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 to ensure safe water routes.
She expressed her satisfaction over the role of IMO in the quick release of the 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 increased the safety measures on the movement of inland water vessels as well and has successfully reduced the number of casualties.
The PM said the government has been trying to minimise the casualties and damages of the cyclone 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 Secretary (Maritime Affairs Unit) at the Foreign Ministry Rear Admiral (retd) Khurshid Alam were present.