Bangladesh at the 'forefront' of disarmament diplomacy: Foreign ministry

Bangladesh stands at the “forefront” of disarmament diplomacy, setting examples for countries in South Asia and beyond, the foreign ministry has said.

It said Bangladesh had signed and ratified the core disarmament treaties including NPT, CTBT, CWC, CCW, BTWC, and APMBT.

“Mentionable, Bangladesh is the first country in South Asia to ratify the CTBT or Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty,” the ministry said in a statement after a seminar on Wednesday at the foreign ministry.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in collaboration with the European Union organised the seminar on ‘The Hague Code of Conduct against Proliferation of Ballistic Missiles’.

The seminar was aimed at raising awareness about the Hague Code of conduct which is the only multilateral instrument to prevent and curb the proliferation of ballistic missiles systems capable of delivering weapons of mass destruction and related technologies.

Principal Staff Officer Lt General Md Mahfuzur Rahman inaugurated the seminar while EU Ambassador Pierre Mayaudon also spoke at the function.

The foreign ministry said Bangladesh's deep commitment to disarmament flows from her broad constitutional obligations to the goal of general and complete disarmament.

“In the same spirit, Bangladesh has partnered with the European Union to organise the event to facilitate information exchange on current trends concerning ballistic missile technologies and proliferation as well as other space launches technologies”.

The seminar marks the existing “multi-faceted cooperation” between Bangladesh and EU at various sectors.

A total of 30 participants from Bangladesh government as well as the civil society took part in the day-long seminar.