An international conference on "Ensuring a Sustainable Blue Economy in an open and interconnected Indo-Pacific Region: Japan-Bangladesh cooperation in Synergizing latent potentials among South & Southeast Asian Bay of Bengal Littoral and Adjacent Countries” was jointly organized by the Centre for Bay of Bengal Studies (CBoBS), IUB and The Sasakawa Peace Foundation, Japan from 27-28 November 2022.

H.E. Dr. A K Abdul Momen, M.P, Hon’ble-Foreign Minister, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Bangladesh, and H.E. Mr. Hayashi Yoshimasa, Hon’ble Foreign Minister of Japan, attended the inaugural session of the conference as chief guest. In the concluding session, H.E. Mr. Saber Hossain Chowdhury, MP, Honorable Chair of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Climate Change, was present as chief guest. Rear Admiral Abdullah Al Mamun Chowdhury, BSP, ndc, psc, Acting Chairman, Bangladesh Institute of Maritime Research and Development (BIMRAD), also attended the conference as a special guest. Ambassador  (Retd) Mr. Tariq A Karim moderated both sessions. In both the inaugural and concluding sessions, all the guests, including the moderator, talked about various aspects of the Bay of Bengal Industrial Growth Belt (BIG-B) initiative, Bay of Bengal-based infrastructure development for economic growth and connectivity with South Asian and littoral countries, Moheshkhali-Matarbari Integrated Infrastructure (MIDI) and Blue Economy Initiative. They also emphasized on capacity building and necessitated for a holistic approach in all these sectors.

There was a total of six papers presented at the conference. Apart from this, nine discussants presented their views in two separate sessions. Moreover, the Panel Discussion on the ‘Role of MIDI and BIG-B for a sustainable blue economy in Bangladesh’ was chaired by Dr. Zaidi Sattar, Chairman Policy Research Institute (PRI), Bangladesh, and the panel discussion on ‘Sub-regional connectivity South Asian Bay of Bengal Littoral and Adjacent Countries’ was chaired by Professor Imtiaz Ahmed, Department of International Relation, University of Dhaka. Officials and researchers from BIMRAD, foreign delegates, faculty, and students of different universities, along with national and international delegates from different countries and organizations, attended the international conference.