Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Sunday said it is high time to decide which marine sectors to prioritise, based on its domestic needs and demands of global market and charting a course towards a blue horizon in partnership with the developed countries and the business sector.
“To this end, for capacity building, collaboration with developed countries, especially to get access to the state-of-the-art technologies, and their best practices; would be the key for blue economy development in Bangladesh,” he said.
The Foreign Minister was addressing a business session titled ‘Blue Economy: Discover the Future’ at the “International Investment Summit 2021 Bangladesh.”
Rear Admiral (retd) Md Khurshed Alam, Secretary of the Maritime Affairs Unit, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, delivered the keynote speech.
Dr Momen said the Bay of Bengal plays a key role in trade and commerce since Bangladesh is a coastal state and has been a hub of maritime activities for centuries.
“It is time for us to attract domestic and foreign investments so that this sector can sustainably contribute to our economy and GDP growth,” he said.
Dr Momen said they, in principle, would like to ensure that the Bay of Bengal and also the Indian Ocean to be free, open, inclusive and secure for navigation for all countries of the world.
Blue economy, in the eyes of many experts, holds the potential to provide resources with utmost significance for a great majority of countries and people of the globe, he said.
“If you would like to be competitive and if you would like to make money, come and invest in Bangladesh and be a winner,” said the Foreign Minister.
The Foreign Minister said the vast resources are mostly untapped and they are benefiting themselves from a fraction of it. “We’ll need an integrated approach for exploration of resources and sustainable use of these in various industries.”
He said there is a growing need to deepen efforts to attain critical international/global targets in regard to fisheries, aquaculture, habitat protection and pollution reduction.
Under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Dr Momen said, the present government has taken the Blue Economy issue with great importance.
With the achievement of sovereign rights over the marine resources in the Bay of Bengal, he said, the Prime Minister expressed her resolve to turn the Bay of Bengal into a hub of sustainable development and prosperity.
Dr Momen said Sheikh Hasina government is business friendly and assured that the government of Bangladesh is keen to offer a conducive, friendly and safe environment for investment in Bangladesh in the different sectors of the economy.
The harsh reality is that Bangladesh is yet far way from its actual potential in terms of achievements in deep sea fishing.
“So far we only have penetrated about 12% of total fishing zone and 88% area is still untapped,” Dr Momen said, adding that “Among the 475 species 25% of white fishes available in the Bay of Bengal we are only catching 120 types species and among 36 species of shrimps we are only catching 6-7 species.”
These show that Bangladesh’s deep sea fishing capacity only reaches 50-60 nautical mile or 17% percent. “I would like also request to emphasize mariculture in the coastal areas of Bangladesh. There are plenty of untapped opportunities,” said Dr Momen.
As per World Trade Organization (WTO), global shipbuilding market size is US$ 1,600 billion and if only 1% market share can be captured by Bangladesh, it will be worth US$ 16 billion, he said.
“If we can grab 1% of the global order for only small ships market the amount will be worth US$ 4 billion,” said the Foreign Minister.
However, he said, in spite of the existing and growing demand, Bangladesh’s Shipbuilding industry did not flourish to the expected level.
Recently, the Foreign Minister said, government has introduced Shipbuilding Industry Development Policy-2020 aiming at earning $4.0 billion annually from ship exports by the year 2025 by creating a facilitating environment for backward linkage industries.
On top of that, he said, Bangladesh pays 9 billion dollar each year as freight charge of ships for conducting export-import functions. “Owning ships will reduce this large amount of freight charge turning them to internal revenue.”
Dr. Md. Kawser Ahmed, Member (Secretary), Planning Division; Azam J. Chowdhury, Chairman, Bangladesh Ocean Going Ship Owners' Association (BOGSOA); Nurul Qayyum Khan, President, Bangladesh Marine Fisheries Association (BMFA), Taufiq Uddin Ahmed, former President, Tour Operators Association of Bangladesh (TOAB) and Dr. Md. Salimullah, Director General (Additional Charge), National Institute of Biotechnology, spoke as panelists.