Pathfinder Foundation co-hosts Second Bay of Bengal Dialogue

The 2nd Bay of Bengal Dialogue co-hosted by the Pathfinder Foundation & the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue was held virtually recently. This meeting was a sequel to the 1st dialogue held in July 2021.

Several themes crucially important to the Bay of Bengal and its resources, such as promoting cooperation on marine environmental protection, opportunities for marine scientific research, preventing and mitigating illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing and managing interactions between (foreign) fishing vessels and maritime law enforcement agencies were discussed.

The event held on a 1.5 basis brought together an array of senior government representatives, leading think tanks and experts from the Bay of Bengal region. Several ideas and proposals for strengthening cooperation emerged from the event for possible inclusion in the agenda of the BIMSTEC heads of state, heads of government and senior officials’ meetings to be held at the end of March in Colombo.

The Bay of Bengal region is one of the most densely populated regions in the world and features some of the world’s fastest-growing economies. The region intersects South and Southeast Asia and was once at the heart of global commerce. Today, one-fourth of the world’s traded goods cross through the Bay of Bengal annually, besides it being an area rich in untapped natural resources.

Bernard Goonetilleke, Chairman of the Pathfinder Foundation, made the opening remarks along with Ye-Min Wu, Director of the South & South East Asia of the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue. Ahmed A. Jawad, Director, Centre for Indo-Lanka Initiatives of the Pathfinder Foundation, made the concluding remarks.