The Royal United Services Institute in partnership with Bangladesh Institute of Maritime Research and Development (BIMRAD) is pleased to invite you to the Bay of Bengal Maritime Security Symposium taking place on from 0930-1630 on Tuesday 21 March at The Westin Hotel, Main Gulshan Avenue, Plot-01 Rd 45, Dhaka.

The conference will bring together policymakers, practitioners, academics, and the private sector to discuss some of the mutual challenges facing the region within the maritime security domain. Partners from Bangladesh, India, Maldives, and Sri Lanka will present the findings of research conducted over the past six months, and then look at identifying how these countries can best align their responses.

Panels will focus on:

• Organised crime - the challenge of human-trafficking and other maritime crime
• Illegal fishing - what are the challenges with monitoring and tracking illegal activities across the region?
• Climate change - what is the impact of pollution and plastics in the sea?
• The future of regional cooperation - what more can regional actors do and what is the role for third party actors beyond the Bay of Bengal?

The conference will open with remarks from the British High Commissioner to Bangladesh.