Dear Friends,

It gives me great pleasure to welcome you all to today’s Vimarsh talk by H.E. Dr A K Abdul Momen, MP, Hon'ble Foreign Minister of Bangladesh on "Promoting Culture of Peace for Shared Prosperity: A Vision for South Asia"

Dr Abdul Momen was Bangladesh’s Permanent Representative at the UN during 2009-2015. He has also served as the Acting President of the UNGA, President of UNICEF and Vice President of ECOSOC.

He did his Graduation and Post-Graduation from Dhaka University, MBA and Ph.D. in Economics in the US. He taught economics and business at top US universities like the MIT and Harvard.

His family has a proud legacy of leadership in politics and public service. Dr Momen was captured and tortured by the occupation army in 1971, during Bangladesh’s War of Liberation.

He got involved in active politics soon after relinquishing his charge as Bangladesh’s top diplomat to the UN. He was elected as a Member of the National Parliament with large margin in 2018. He was appointed as the Foreign Minister soon after. He has authored several books on Bangabandhu and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

He is here for the G20 meeting of the foreign ministers. He arrived this afternoon. I want to thank him for finding time from his busy schedule to visit the VIF.

Friends,

The international environment has deteriorated rapidly in the last few years primarily due to the pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war, whose manifold implications have impacted all of us. On the top of these developments, the world has to live with the consequences of the climate change.

The prevailing global and regional uncertainty has deeply impacted the countries of our region. Like other countries, India and Bangladesh are looking for peace and stability which is so critical for our growth. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi and PM Sheikh Hasina, the two countries have set up an example of how the two countries can resolve their differences and work together for regional peace and development.

H.E. Momen has vast experience of international diplomacy. As the Foreign Minister of Bangladesh, he understands the aspirations of our people and the challenges they face. The topic “How to Promote Culture and Peace for Shared Prosperity” is very relevant.

We look forward to hearing the distinguished Foreign Minister.