Bangladesh has briefed heads of missions (around 90) based in New Delhi on the recent political scenario and preparations for the next general election in Bangladesh. Mentioning that election is a “festive occasion in Bangladesh as we see it in many democratic countries,” Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen told ambassadors that people of Bangladesh have been eagerly waiting to take part in the democratic process to vote and elect the representatives of their choice. The Election Commission is committed to holding a free and fair election with participation of voters in a festive atmosphere, Masud told the diplomats in Delhi. Bangladesh-India FS-level talks held in New Delhi The foreign secretary briefed the diplomats concurrently accredited to Bangladesh on Friday evening. He was visiting New Delhi in connection with the Foreign Office Consultations between Bangladesh and India, which was held in the Hyderabad House in the afternoon of November 24. In the evening, he briefed the concurrently accredited ambassadors to Bangladesh in a program organized by the Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi at the Bangabandhu Hall. Foreign Secretary Masud highlighted the foreign policy priorities and dynamics of Bangladesh under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Bangladesh-India FS-level talks in New Delhi on Friday He also briefed the ambassadors about Bangladesh’s position on various geopolitical contemporary issues. During the briefing, he highlighted the socio-economic development of Bangladesh over the last 15 years under the dynamic and visionary leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Masud solicited their support to resolve the Rohingya crisis through ensuring the refugees’ safe and sustainable repatriation to their place of origin in Myanmar for peace and stability of the region and beyond. During the briefing session, the ambassadors were requested for support of their respective governments for Bangladesh’s candidature for the membership of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) Council under category ‘C’ for the term 2024-2025, elections to which be held in London on December 1 this year. Given Bangladesh’s recent socio-economic development, continued stability and growing importance in the regional and global platforms and engagement with the issues of global concern, Foreign Secretary Masud urged the ambassadors to request their respective governments to consider opening diplomatic missions in Dhaka. He assured them of the Bangladesh government’s cooperation and assistance in facilitating the process. The foreign secretary responded to questions raised by the concurrently accredited ambassadors. The foreign secretary is scheduled to return to Dhaka this afternoon. FOC: Bangladesh, India hold comprehensive discussions on trade, security, border issues

Bangladesh has nominated Moin Uddin Ahmed as a candidate for the post of Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization (IMO). The election will take place at IMO Headquarters on July 18, according to the IMO. Following the election in July 2023, the decision of the Council will be submitted to the 33rd session of the Assembly of IMO in late 2023. The Assembly will be invited to approve the appointment, and the elected Secretary-General will take office on January 1, 2024.   Seven IMO Member States have each nominated a candidate for the post of Secretary-General of IMO. The term of the incumbent Secretary-General, Kitack Lim of the Republic of Korea, expires on December 31, 2023.  The nominations received by the deadline set for receipt of nominations – March 31, 2023 – are listed below in alphabetical order by candidates’ names:   Moin Uddin Ahmed (Bangladesh), Suat Hayri Aka (Türkiye), Arsenio Antonio Dominguez Velasco (Panama), Dr. Cleopatra Doumbia-Henry (Dominica), Nancy Karigithu (Kenya), Minna Kivimäki (Finland) and Zhang Xiaojie (China). The IMO Council at its 128th session (December 2022) approved the procedures for holding the election of the Secretary-General in July 2023 session of the Council. Meanwhile, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam is scheduled to brief diplomats on Thursday seeking support in favour of Bangladesh's candidature, says a Foreign Ministry source. Diplomats from two dozen countries have been invited to attend the briefing. Moin Uddin Ahmed was elected as the Director-General of International Maritime Satellite Organization (IMSO) in their 25th assembly session. He was first elected as the Director General in November of 2014 and commenced his position in April 2015. He was a Senior Technical Officer in IMO Maritime Safety Division, before his nomination as the Director general of IMSO in 2014.  

Instant audio/video call and messaging app, imo, recently launched a new campaign on International Women's Day to offer enhanced privacy protection and ensure cyber security for the users. According to numerous data, cybercrimes such as hacking, blackmailing, and cyberbullying have been occurring regularly in Bangladesh. To be particular, online harassment against women, especially on different social networking sites, is on the rise as a recent study has found that 64 out of every 100 women in the country faced some kind of online harassment and violence owing to a lack of safe online space. As far as social platforms are concerned, a user may face privacy issues at different stages of communication and there are by far no proper solutions to address these problems. Against such a backdrop, imo introduced its new campaign: "Your privacy, Your Control." Read more: imo boosts security layer with new anti-fraud system Through this initiative, imo has brought three advanced security features – "Time Machine," "Block Screenshot for Calls," and "Friend Request." These features will help the users solve many of the security or privacy issues faced at any stage of their communication.  The Time Machine feature will allow users to delete the selected chat history timelessly. Also, the Block Screenshot for Calls feature will provide them with the opportunity to stop the person on the receiving end to take screenshots on calls. The Friend Request feature will further protect users' safety by prohibiting unknown/unfriendly people from reaching out when they are not a connection.     

BGL Overseas, a recruiting agency based in Dhaka, has reported a "big growth in its engagement with the job seekers" after joining "Channel," a free broadcast platform for service and information introduced by popular instant messaging app imo. The agency is involved in the recruitment and supply of workers from Bangladesh to different companies based in the Middle East and Asia. Abdullah Al Mamun, marketing manager of BGL, decided to connect with imo Channel to help the agency perform better. BGL joined Channel this May to try it and tap into more potential candidates. After the agency was officially verified by the imo team, its account got customised menus, enabling potential clients to contact it conveniently. More importantly, BGL services got a huge traffic boost from imo. Within only two months, the number of closed deals of Mamun increased by around 50 percent as there was a huge boost in the number of BGL's followers, which reached nearly 13,000. Read: Grooming Tips for Professionals: Show up gracefully at the workplace On average, the number of migrant workers who reach out to BGL through Channel every day is around 50, much more efficient than other digital platforms, according to a media statement. Mamun said: "We were looking for a good platform to connect to our target clients directly. Ever since we connected with imo Channel, we witnessed a significant rise in our engagement with the job seekers, because our target clients are already on the platform and could call us directly on imo without fees and not through other agents, which has helped us experience meteoric growth in terms of business." Currently, there are huge opportunities for Bangladeshis to work overseas, but it often remains unexplored owing to a lack of proper information. Channel has "proved to be a powerful tool in this regard." Currently, on imo, there are around 10 million Bangladeshi users who work in the Middle East. Migrant workers can get relevant and authorised information about overseas job opportunities, salary, employers, companies, job requirements and other necessary details through imo Channel.

The number of people who had left Ukraine reached 1.45 million as Russia's war on Ukraine entered Day 10 Saturday, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The UN migration agency, citing figures from government ministries in countries where they arrived, said 787,300 of them went to Poland. Around 228,700 fled to Moldova, 144,700 to Hungary, 132,600 to Romania and 100,500 to Slovakia. Nationals of 138 countries crossed Ukraine's borders into neighbouring nations, the IOM said. Also read: Ukraine wants special tribunal to judge Putin The military offensive in Ukraine has destroyed civilian infrastructure and civilian casualties and forced people to flee their homes seeking safety, protection and assistance. In the first week, more than 1 million refugees from Ukraine crossed borders into neighbouring countries, and many more are on the move both inside and outside the country. As the situation continues to unfold, an estimated 4 million people may flee the country, according to the UN refugee agency (UNHCR)  In light of the emergency and paramount humanitarian needs of refugees from Ukraine, an inter-agency regional refugee response is being carried out, in support of refugee-hosting countries’ efforts, it says. The regional refugee response plan brings together the UN, NGO and other relevant partners and primarily focuses on supporting the host country governments to ensure safe access to the territory for refugees and third-country nationals fleeing from Ukraine, in line with international standards. It also focuses on the provision of critical protection services and humanitarian assistance, while displacement dynamics and needs continue to grow exponentially. Also read: Refugee count tops 1 million; Russians besiege Ukraine ports

People will now be able to register for Covid-19 vaccine through imo, according to a press release of the popular messaging app . The move  aims to amplify the mass vaccination efforts of the Bangladesh government, read the press release issued on Wednesday. Read: Registration for Covid vaccination to start again Thursday “ The key function of this new feature is to make the vaccine registration process more accessible and seamless for the people,” it read. Users will be able to find the newly added feature under the “explore” tab within the imo app, named “Covid-19 Vaccine Appointment. Read Chinese firms working with Bangladeshi partners for vaccine co-production They will be greeted with a step-by-step tutorial of the vaccine registration process for their convenience. The users will be redirected to the Surokkha website for appointments so that  they can select their desired hospitals. Read: Covid vaccine: Expat workers can now sign up on Surokkha Then they will be allocated a suitable time and date via SMS so that they can receive their vaccine jabs, explained the press release.

Instant messaging app imo has introduced a new "SecretChat" feature with end-to-end encryption to protect users' data. The new feature will enable users to connect and communicate more securely on imo. It comes with facilities such as message self-destructing after the session and dissemination control, which means the entire conversation will be wiped out instantly after exiting the chat session, thus ensuring no trace of the conversation. The secret chat feature is available in the attachment bar of the chat interface with a specific contact. Read India unveils WhatsApp alternative, Sandes Chat sessions of the users will be protected through end-to-end encryption. The most important aspect of this new feature is the dissemination control functions. Under this function, no one can copy, forward, share, download, screenshot, or record any private chat conversations. This feature will enable imo users to communicate with greater confidence and security when sharing their private matters. To ensure an enhanced security experience for the users, imo has rolled out a series of security measures over the last few months. Read Top WhatsApp Alternatives for Free Calling and Group Chatting In December 2020, the global instant communication platform introduced a new enhanced phone number verification system for Bangladeshi users to protect user information, especially when the user is switching numbers. This verification system does not allow the old phone number to access the associated imo account. So, the relevant data remains intact and secure.  Around 150 million free calls, videos, and pictures are exchanged using imo every day in Bangladesh, said the platform. Read A clear Signal that Indians are increasingly shunning WhatsApp? Apart from that, 96 billion messages and 26 billion audio and video calls were made by Bangladeshi imo users in 2020, it added.

The historic speech of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at the 29th UNGA forty-six years ago received the highest tribute at a high-level commemorative event in London.