Bangladesh Foreign Service Academy concludes international course on foreign affairs, diplomacy

The Foreign Service Academy has awarded certificates to the participants of a two-week international course on ‘Foreign Affairs and Diplomacy’ at its Sugandha premises in Dhaka.

Foreign Secretary Md Shahidul Haque, in the presence of the ambassadors and the high commissioners of the participating countries, handed the certificates to the participants on Thursday.

Of the 20 participants, 18 were foreign diplomats from Afghanistan, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Malaysia, Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.

The foreign secretary said hosting “this type of diplomatic courses successfully itself gives the testimony of our ongoing progress in the socio-economic indices as well as our enhanced ability to effectively interact within the global diplomatic community".

“Surely this will add to our fledgling image as a growth aspiring country and booster the confidence our young diplomats to take a step forward towards our foreign policy pursuit of world peace and prosperity, guided by our Father of the Nation’s pronounce on Foreign Policy – ‘Friendship to all, Malice to none’,” he said.

Starting from Mar 18, this course included sessions on Bangladesh’s history, emergence, culture and heritage, history of communal harmony and resilience alongside our recent socio-economic successes.

Contemporary global issues like climate change, blue economy, migration, SDGs, multilateral trade negotiations were also amongst the topics. Conduct of Foreign Policy and challenges in diplomacy in the 21st Century was the main focus of the course.

Experts and eminent academics of the country, former ambassadors and high government officials conducted these sessions.

To have a first-hand experience of the emerging Bangladesh, participants also visited the Bangabandhu Memorial Museum, Liberation War Museum, National Folk and Craft Arts Museum, historic Panam City at Sonargaon and the on-field activities of BRAC at its Gazipur centre.

The participants, in their remarks, expressed their joy and satisfaction for the hospitality shown by Bangladesh, the foreign ministry said.

The purpose of the course was to strengthen the diplomatic ties with friendly countries and to create a platform for enhanced interaction amongst the diplomats of the participating countries, the foreign ministry said in a statement.