Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said that Bangladesh government has been taking required measures to leverage the potential of the blue economy--to further expedite the country's development. She told it in a speech while addressing the Mujib Borsho Passing Out of 41st batch of the Marine Fisheries Academy at its campus in Chattogram. The premier joined the ceremony virtually from her official residence Ganabhaban.
Blue economy means extraction of the resources of sea for the growth of an economy. Bangladesh has settled maritime boundary disputes with Myanmar in 2012 and with India in 2014 through an arbitral method.
After achieving the MDGs (millennium development goals) successfully the country is set to achieve the SDGs (sustainable development goals). The SDG-14 emphasizes on the conservation and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development. In addition to that, in order to ensure enough resource to support 160 million people Bangladesh does not have any other option but implementing a proper policy in this regard.
Undeniably, the country's economy is advancing towards prosperity with gaining cherished strength despite the economy has suffered a setback due to the Coronavirus. In order to further strengthen our economy the concept of blue economy is perfectly suitable. The fact is that, the Bay of Bengal is a reservoir of natural resources, which supplies natural gas--which is vital for our energy security. Moreover the Bay is constantly supplying a huge amount of fishes to meet the demand for protein of the people--contributing to ensure food security of the country. Meanwhile, Bangladesh has gained a vast sea area from India and Myanmar, guarantying control over resources over a vast territory. Therefore, extraction of resources from the sea could open a new door in the socio-economic development of country's growing population.
Unfortunately, we could not untap the full potentials of the maritime zone, due to some setbacks. Lack of properly trained manpower is one of such setbacks. Therefore, sophisticated knowledge and advanced machinery are required. Hopefully, initiatives have been taken to install modern simulators (artificial sea training system) for the academy. It is expected that the simulator will be installed soon.
We hope that in order to survive in this ever-changing and competitive modern world Bangladesh will realize the importance of the blue economy in the upcoming days. We hope that the academy will generate trained manpower in the fisheries sector for efficient extraction of fish resources from the country's vast seas to meet the protein demand of the largest population and earn foreign currency. We can ask for the knowhow of countries those are developed in this field. Also, foreign investment in sophisticated fishing could help our economy immensely.
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