The conference unwelcomes local politicians welcoming foreign counterparts      

BM Report

While the old alliances across the world have been weakening in recent years, new alliances are being formed, but this transition is rather creating barriers to solving international conflicts.

Such observation was made by Moussa Mara, the former Prime Minister of Mali and a member of Club Madrid, while he was speaking at the inaugural of the “Bay of Bengal Conversation” in Dhaka on Saturday.

“The USA and China are trying seriously to bring countries under their own block,” Moussa said. “The ongoing Russia-Ukraine war is a major problem in the world, but unfortunately, this war is not ending. This is also frustrating that some developed countries in Europe are divided now and creating problems or nurturing.”

The three-day international conference has been organized by the Center for Governmence Studies (CGS). Many of the 50 sessions in the conference will discuss Indo-Pacific geopolitical issues.

Researchers, teachers, writers, journalists, businessmen, and politicians from 75 countries are attending the conference. However, none from the government or opposition political parties in Bangladesh have been invited to speak in sessions.

The CGS Executive Director, Zillur Rahman,  said the government in his own country has questioned the agenda of this conversation.

Zillur, the longest serving host at the “Tritiya Mattra,’ Bangladesh’s top most regarded tv show on politcs, said his organization wants to prove that it does not support any political party.

Local media has reports that the CGS officials have already been interrogated by government agencies about the source of their funds for organizing this conference.

Peter Haas, the US Ambassador to Bangladesh, Abdelkader Ed Elrahal of the USAID, Sarah Cooke, the British High Commissioner here and Boris Tadić, the former President, Serbia are shown among the distinguished speakers in the conference website.

In one session of the conference, Nurul Kabir, editor of Dhaka’s daily New Age, said that there is no democracy in Bangladesh because the elections in 2014 and 2018 were not conducted properly.

“The development that the government is talking about is also a big rumor economically,” said Kabir, a popular political analyst in TV talkshows, and known as a harsh critic of the government.

“Rumors are terrible things; we watch rumors spread by Russia about the Russia-Ukraine war,” said Leo Wieger, editor of Germany’s Zenith magazine, at the same session.

Dr. Debapriya Bhattacharya, a Distinguished Fellow at the Center for Policy Dialogue (CPD), also spoke at the conference.

“The civil societies that believe in global humanity, believe in democratic responsibility, believe in international laws—they are now under threat,” said Bhattacharya, a renowned economist, also  known as a critic of the present government.