Bangladesh needs to tap the potentials of blue economy to achieve its desired economic growth, said experts at a high profile programme on Sunday.
The workshop titled "Blue economy and EU horizon 2020" was organised by the European Union in collaboration with the foreign ministry of Bangladesh.
The government has given special importance to explore the country's blue economy potential, foreign minister AH Mahmood Ali told the workshop.
He said a number of steps have been taken in this regard and these would be visible.
Bangladesh has resolved its maritime dispute with the neighbouring countries 'very successfully' and now it has started to formulate a roadmap for utilising the vast blue economy resources, he noted.
Addressing the workshop, Renjse Teerink, Head of the Delegation, of the European Union to Bangladesh said Bangladesh has achieved remarkable growth during the last decade.
To sustain this growth rate, proper utilisation of the blue economy is crucial, she added.
The workshop highlights blue economy-related research opportunities under the current EU Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme and introduced the next EU Research and Innovation Programme "Horizon Europe", which is expected to kick off from January 2021.
Bangladesh can harness its blue growth potential by exploring new avenues for research and development activities within the Horizon 2020 programme, the EU Head of Delegation said.
She noted that the blue economy would continue to be an EU priority even in the upcoming research framework programme, which has been named as 'Horizon Europe '.
The EU plans to allocate 100 billion euros under this programme.
Speakers said in the Bangladesh context, Horizon 2020 can be seen as an incarnation of Science Diplomacy.
Among others, foreign secretary M Shahidul Haque, Khurshed Alam, secretary of the Maririme Affairs Unit of foreign ministry, Konstantinos Vardikas, minister counsellor of EU Delegation Bangladesh, addressed the workshop.
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