LKI Executive Director attends International Seminar on ‘Bangladesh’s ‘Indo-Pacific Outlook: Opportunities and Way Forward”

September 3, 2023    Reading Time: < 1 minute

Reading Time: < 1 min read

Executive Director of LKI Ambassador Ravinatha Aryasinha participated in the International Seminar on “Bangladesh’s Indo-Pacific Outlook: Opportunities and Way Forward” held in Dhaka on 2 September 2023. The Foreign Minister of Bangladesh Dr AK Abdul Momen was the Chief Guest at the seminar, which was jointly organized by the Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS) and the Bangladesh Foundation for Regional Studies (BFRS) and held at the BIISS auditorium.

Addressing the event, Ambassador Aryasinha observed, that as with the ‘Bangladesh Indo-Pacific Outlook’, the challenge for smaller developing countries/economies in responding to the broader concepts concerning the region presented by the major powers, was to carve out foreign policy postures which while avoiding them being drawn into the crossfire between the contending major powers, allows such countries to remain relevant, to be secure, and to prosper. He said this predicament must be approached and managed with caution, even-handedness, and transparency, avoiding the self-defeating pendulum swings in policy that have been witnessed at different times in many countries.

While former Indian Minister of State for External Affairs M.J. Akbar delivered the closing address, among the other foreign invitees were; HE Salman Al Farisi, Secretary General, Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA); Ambassador Pankaj Saran, Convenor, Centre for Research on Strategic and Security Issues, New Delhi, and former Indian Deputy National Security Advisor; Dr C Raja Mohan, Senior Fellow, Asia Society Policy Institute, New Delhi, and Foreign Policy Analyst; Mr Michael Kugelman, Director, South Asia Institute Wilson Center, Washington, DC; Dr David Brewster, Senior Research Fellow, National Security College Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University, Canberra; Prof. Shinoda Hideki, Graduate School of Global Studies, Tokyo University; and Dr Iqbal Singh Sevea, Director, Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore.