Bangladesh has been elected a member of the Executive Council of UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) for the 2023-25 term, receiving the highest number of votes.

The election was held at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris during the 32nd Assembly of the IOC on Wednesday.

Bangladesh’s election in this council manifests global recognition of its initiatives, actions, and contributions to the multilateral fora to maintain a safe and secured maritime regime and ocean governance in the world, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Bangladesh’s growing engagement in maritime issues has prompted it to float its candidature in the IOC Executive Council, MoFA said.

It is committed to contributing to the existing critical needs of IOC concerning its wider global presence, increased budgetary allocation and value addition through fostering a technology-based oceanographic multilateral ecosystem. In the last couple of years, Bangladesh has hosted a number of meetings on maritime issues.

Most recently, it hosted the 9th IOCINDIO meeting in Dhaka in March 2023 and the Indian Ocean Conference in May 2023.

Bangladesh’s election in the council would help promote its maritime diplomacy in the UN system while securing benefits for this institution and strengthening partnership with other nations, said the government.

Bangladesh has also registered its voice to change the status of IOC Sub-Committee for Central Indian Ocean to IOC Sub-Commission to be known as IOCINDIO which is expected to be approved during the current session of the 32nd IOC Assembly (21-30 June 2023).

Leader of the Bangladesh delegation, Rear Admiral (Retd) Khurshed Alam, expressed hope that this would be formally approved through a resolution within the current session of 32nd IOC Assembly.

He profusely thanked Bangladesh’s Ambassador to France and Permanent Delegate to UNESCO, Khondker M Talha, and his team for their dedicated work during the election.