Foreign Adviser. Tauhid Hossain said, Bay of Bengal is very important for Bangladesh in terms of various issues as well as Rohingya issue. In the last 8 years, cooperation from the big neighbor to resolve the crisis has been less than expected. Not only Bangladesh, India, USA and China also have different interests around the Bay of Bengal. They have not solved the problem by coming to our side because they have their own interests. As a result, this problem has created a great burden for us. It will not only be a threat to Bangladesh but will spread to other places as well.
He said this on the opening day of 'Bay of Bengal Conversation 2024' at Hotel Pan Pacific Sonargaon in the capital on Saturday. The three-day international conference was organized by the private research institute Center for Governance Studies (CGS).
The foreign advisor believes that China and India have not provided the expected cooperation to Bangladesh considering their own interests in resolving the Rohingya crisis. He said Myanmar is very important to China to ensure access to the Bay of Bengal. Similarly, India considers the Kaladan project in Rakhine important for its access to the states in the North Eastern region.
So for this project India has no option to maintain good relations with Myanmar. We are victims of circumstances. I say without blaming anyone, everyone will look after their own interests. This is prolonging the Rohingya crisis.
Stating that there is no possibility of solving the Rohingya crisis soon, the foreign adviser said that there is no light at the end of the tunnel that the Rohingya crisis will be solved easily. If the Rohingya crisis is not resolved, it will become a problem for the rest of the world.
During the interim government in the last 100 days, people's fear of speaking has been removed, the adviser said. He said, those who are staying outside the country, so far only they could speak freely. Those who are inside the country, they could not criticize the government. Now those who are inside the country, they are also criticizing the interim government unhindered. This is one thing we have already achieved.
Bay of Bengal Conversation-2024 has more than 200 negotiators, 300 delegates from more than 80 countries and about 800 participants. This year's theme is 'A Fractured World'. The conference will continue till November 18. The conference was opened on Saturday morning by the chief adviser. Muhammad Yunus. He urged the guests coming to Dhaka to visit the 'Stit Art' of the July movement on the occasion of the conference. Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and former Bolivian President Jorge Quiroga gave video messages at the opening ceremony. In his speech, Mahathir Mohamad called for an end to Israeli aggression in Palestine.
In the opening ceremony, CGS Executive Director Zillur Rahman said that the Center for Governance Studies has organized the annual Bay of Bengal Conversation for the third time. In the previous years, there were many obstacles from the government to organize this conference. But this year we are getting a lot of support.
CGS chair Munira Khan said, from this conference we want to know and talk about global issues including democracy, peace and human rights. The agenda of this conference is for the people, not for any political party. Want to talk about all kinds of problems and his future. We have this conference to talk about people, democracy, human rights, elections, poverty worldwide.
