message from the president - bangladesh enterprise...

I would like to greet you all through this newsletter that highlights the activities of BEI during the period of October to December 2016. BEI has conducted several activities like re-search, workshops, seminars and advocacy works under various projects and programs. BEI has provided a platform for regular dia-logues between the government, the private sector, development partners, and other rele-vant stakeholders on a whole range of subjects including Corporate Governance, Corporate So-cial Responsibility, E-Governance, Foreign Poli-

cy and Security, Regional and Economic Cooperation, Regulatory and Eco-nomic Re-forms, Public Private Partnership and Trade, Investment and En-vironmental Sustainability. BEI, realizing the importance of peace and sta-bility in the country for a healthy business and investment climate, has un-dertaken a number of projects on security related issues. Our recent advo-cacy and research initiatives have particularly focused on Counter Terror-ism, Counter Radicalization and National Security in Bangladesh. In addition, BEI has placed great emphasis on strengthening the historical relationship, facilitating trade & accelerating military collaboration between Bangladesh and China for deepening regional cooperation in Asia and focus-ing on the economic development of Bangladesh. As Bangladesh is facing a number of challenges, BEI is committed to making a contribution in mitigat-ing these by promoting greater co-operation between the government and the private sector in the country.

I hope the information in the newsletter would be of assistance to you and

we look forward to keeping you informed about BEI’s future activities.

Farooq Sobhan

President

Bangladesh Enterprise Institute

Bangladesh Enterprise Institute

Newsletter October– December 2016

Message from the President

Inside this issue:

Seminar on “Bangladesh-

China Relations: Oppor-

tunities and Challenges”

2

BEI President at the

Roundtable on

“Bangladesh-China Rela-

tions: Connecting Two

Economies”

3

BEI President at the Sem-

inar on “Foreign Policy of

Bangladesh: Roadmap to

Realization of Vision

2041″

3

BEI Official Visit to China 4

Inception Meetings in 3

Upazillas of Satkhira Dis-

trict

5

Training Workshop on

“The Role of Teachers in

Peace Building”

6

Workshops on “ The Role

of Teachers & Media Per-

sonnel in Building Peace

& Social Resilience”

7

Study Visit to Jakarta,

Indonesia

8

BEI President at a Semi-

nar on “Terrorism and

Counter Terrorism:

Bangladesh Perspective”

9

BEI Profile BEI is an independent and non-profit research centre which has given special importance to the

growth and development of the private sector. The institute promotes and articulates issues of im-

portance to the private sector and seeks to influence policy to initiate measures crucial to the devel-

opment of a market oriented economy, as well as sustainable growth of trade, commerce and indus-

try. The institute, on a more recent time frame, has also been focusing significantly on security re-

lated issues. To achieve these goals, BEI organizes regular consultations, dialogues, seminars and

workshops, conducts research, undertakes surveys, and formulates policy recommendations for the

consideration of the government and other stakeholders.

Seminar on “Bangladesh-China Relations: Opportunities and Challenges”

Bangladesh Enterprise Institute (BEI), organized a seminar on “Bangladesh-China Relations: Oppor-tunities and Challenges” on 3 October 2016, from 3:00 to 6:00 pm at Westin Hotel. The objective of the seminar is to discuss opportunities and challenges in the bilateral relation between Bangla-desh and China and how to strengthen ties. The seminar brought together government officials, Sino-Bangladesh experts, researchers and academics and former diplomats, including former Bangla-desh Ambassadors to China. H.E. MA Mingqiang, Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh attended the seminar. Dr. Gowher Rizvi, Hon’ble Adviser for the Prime Minister on International Affairs & was honored as the Chief Guest in the program. Moreover, Mr Shahriar Alam, M.P., Hon’ble State Minister of Foreign Affairs, Government of Bangladesh, was also present in the program.

BEI President at the Roundtable on “Bangladesh-China Relations: Connecting Two Economies”

his opinion, China itself could play a major role in making Bangladesh the number one readymade garment exporter in the world within the next ten years. On 10 October 2016, BEI President Ambas-sador Farooq Sobhan spoke at a roundtable on “Bangladesh-China Relations: Connecting Two Economies” organized by The Daily Star in Dhaka. He said Beijing has a serious commitment to Dha-ka, especially in terms of investment in infrastructure. With investment from the economic giant go-ing up, Dhaka is ready to offer a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) to Chinese investors. He also said if Chinese investors are given the SEZ, they would relocate their factories here and eventually help Bangladesh become the largest garment exporter worldwide. According

BEI President at the Seminar on

“Foreign Policy of Bangladesh: Roadmap to Realization of Vision 2041″

On 13 October 2016, the National Defence College (NDC), Bangladesh Institute of International and

Strategic Studies (BIISS) and Bangladesh Enterprise Institute (BEI) jointly hosted the seminar at the

National Defence College in Mirpur Cantonment, Dhaka. Ambassador Farooq Sobhan, President of

BEI, attended in that program as the Chief Guest. In the opening remarks, he described various im-

portant aspects of foreign policy Bangladesh as well as its prospect and challenges. He called for

keen collaboration among the regional countries and international community for greater interests

of all. He praised NDC for taking the initiative of organizing a seminar on such an important issue.

BEI Official Visit to China

A BEI delegation, led by Amb. Farooq Sobhan, President, BEI, and comprising of senior government officials, including Ambassador Munshi Faiz Ahmad, Chairman, and Major General Abdur Rahman, Director General of Bangladesh International Institute of Strategic Studies (BIISS), and senior BEI staff, met with senior officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing on 18 October, and dis-cussed bilateral, regional and security issues, including the visit of President Xi Jinping to Bangladesh on 14-15 October. On the same day, the BEI team met with senior staff members of the China Insti-tute of International Studies (CIIS), the think tank of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, at their insti-tute in Beijing. Later BEI President Ambassador Farooq Sobhan meeting with His Excellency Mr. Li Jun, Assistant Minister, International Liaison Department of the Communist Party at his office in Bei-jing on 19 October 2016.

Inception Meetings in 3 Upazillas of Satkhira District

Three inception meetings were held at three Upazilas of Satkhira district– Ashashuni, Debhata, and

Kaliganj of on 31st October, 1st November and 2nd November 2016 respectively. The program was

running under a project entitled “ Use of Media/Information platforms to enhance resilience through

empowerment of youth with support form media personnel and teachers for preventing

radicalization and violent extremism “, funded by Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund

(GCERF). The prime objective of those inception meetings were to make the entire range of

stakeholders aware of project objectives, methodologies, plans, and deliverables, identify potential

constraints and challenges, and also to seek support from them for successful implementation of the

project activities. More than 100 leaders/stakeholders from various strata of society participated in

those inception meetings

Training Workshop on

“The Role of Teachers in Peace Building”

Bangladesh Enterprise Institute (BEI) organized a two-day training workshop entitled, “The Role of Teachers in Peace Building” from 16-17 November 2016 at the Bangladesh Institute of Manage-ment (BIM). A total number of 28 Teachers from 28 Upazillas had participated in this training work-shop. Mr. Kazi Akhtar Uddin Ahmed, Secretary of the Ministry of Youth and Sports, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh inaugurated the workshop as Chief Guest whereas Mr. Ambassador (Retired) Farooq Sobhan, President of BEI chaired the session. Mr. Mohammad Humayun Kabir, Sen-ior Research Director of BEI presented the project brief. Mr. Ambassador (Retired) M. Humayun Ka-bir, Vice President of BEI give a vote of thanks to participants and guests. Mr. Ambassador (Retired) Suhrab Hossain, Adviser of BEI and Mr. Faiz Sobhan, Research Director of BEI are presented in the inaugural program of the training workshop. This training workshop had been organized under a project entitled “Conflict Prevention through Counter-Radicalization of Youth” funded by the Eu-ropean Union.

Workshops on “ The Role of Teachers & Media Personnel in

Building Peace & Social Resilience”

Three training workshops entitled “The role of teachers & media Personnel in building peace and

social resilience “were organized on 26-30November 2016 for the media personnel and teachers in

three Upazilas of Satkhira district by BEI. The workshops were running under the project entitled “

Use of Media/Information platforms to enhance resilience through empowerment of youth with

support form media personnel and teachers for preventing radicalization and violent extremism

“, funded by Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund (GCERF). Each training work-

shop lasted for three days. The objective of the training workshops were to frame and prepare 24

teachers and 24 journalists from three Upazilas (8 teachers and 8 journalists from each Upazila) to

act as mentors for the students from Colleges and Madrasas, so that they could engage them in de-

veloping and delivering alternative messages and narratives with a view to neutralizing the appeal

of radicalization and violent extremism.

Study Visit to Jakarta, Indonesia Bangladesh Enterprise Institute (BEI) organized a study visit to Jakarta, Indonesia with the finan-cial support of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) entitled ‘Prevention of Violent Ex-tremism Delegation to Hedayah International Counter-Extremism Peace Conference in Jakarta, In-donesia’. In this study visit, 12 delegates from Bangladesh participated in 2 dialogues with the Ba-dan Nasional Penanggulangan Terorisme (BNPT) and United Nations Interregional Crime and Jus-tice Research Institute (UNICRI) respectively, and took part in the 3 day International CVE Re-search Conference in Jakarta organized by the Hedeyah.

BEI President at a Seminar on “Terrorism and Counter Terrorism: Bangladesh Perspective”

On 5 December 2016, the National Defence College (NDC) at Mirpur Cantonment in Dhaka, organized a day-long seminar on “Terrorism and Counter Terrorism: Bangladesh Perspective”. Ambassador Farooq Sobhan, President, Bangladesh Enterprise Institute (BEI) was present as the Special Guest in that program. He appreciated NDC for taking the initiative of organizing a seminar on such an im-portant contemporary issues in the country.

Mailing Address:

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Bangladesh

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message from the president - bangladesh enterprise...

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