Dialogue is the only panacea for peace, Bangladesh tells Asia meet

The state minister for foreign affairs has said that dialogue is the “only panacea for peace” for development and progress.

“In this globalised world, force cannot build peace; power cannot guarantee security,” Md Shahriar Alam said at the 5th Ministerial Meeting of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) in Beijing on Thursday.

This was the Bangladesh’s first ministerial meeting after becoming a full member of the CICA in 2014. It is an Asian platform for addressing emerging issues through interaction and exchange of views.

The theme of this year’s meet was “Promoting Security through Dialogue”.

Alam said Bangladesh believed that “only through dialogue and concerted efforts will we be able to build a future of peace, harmony and prosperity for all of us”.

Peace and development is “a fundamental pillar” of Bangladesh’s foreign policy, he said.

“Bangladesh believes that threat to peace anywhere is a threat for the entire humanity,” the state minister said.

He also mentioned Bangladesh’s commitment in the UN peacekeeping mission.

He said terrorism and extremism, organised crimes, human trafficking, and drugs remain “major impediments” to the peace and development of the “diverse” Asia region.

Climate change, environmental degradation, and cyber security have added “new dimensions” to the overall security situation of the region.

“In the globalised world, no country can tackle these challenges alone,” he said, and reiterated Bangladesh’s support for the institutional development of CICA.

Since joining, Bangladesh has been “actively” participating in all CICA activities. Bangladesh also hosted the ‘CICA Digital Governance Conference’ in Dhaka.

The state minister proposed to hold a seminar on climate change this year.