“Commemorating the Silver Jubilee of Diplomatic Relations between South Africa and Bangladesh”

Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS) organized a lecture on “Commemorating the Silver Jubilee of Diplomatic Relations between South Africa and Bangladesh” on 04 September 2019 at BIISS auditorium. Ambassador Dr. Sooklal, Deputy Director-General, Asia and Middle East, Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO), South Africa was present as the Guest of Honour. Mr. Md. Shahidul Haque, Foreign Secretary, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh chaired the entire lecture session. Major General A K M Abdur Rahman, ndc, psc, Director General, BIISS, delivered the introductory remarks.

In his introductory remarks, Major General A K M Abdur Rahman highlighted on the long standing and historic relationship between Bangladesh and South Africa. He focused on the importance of the bilateral relations between the two countries to explore every opportunity and to work together in order to guarantee all potential enhancements of this relation for the sake of mutual progress and prosperity. In his address, Ambassador Dr. Sooklal mentioned about the warm relationship between Bangladesh and South Africa through long 25 years. He connoted that South Africa has developed a diversified manufacturing base that has shown its resilience and potential to compete in the global economy. Both the countries can work together in the identified priority areas that will be of mutual benefit to them. Mr. Md. Shahidul Haque delivered his remarks that under the changing global and regional dynamics, there is a need to work for solidifying the bilateral relations and find new avenues for deepening cooperation between the two countries.

The seminar included a lively open discussion where senior officials from different ministries of Bangladesh, representatives from different foreign missions, former ambassadors, media, academia, researchers, representatives of different government and non-government research organizations and teachers from various government and non-government universities participated and expressed their valuable opinions and observations. They expected a strongly bonded relationship between Bangladesh and South Africa in the field of development and mutual cooperation.