Participants to draw up action plan for boosting sector

Talha Bin Habib | Published: November 28, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2024 06:01:00

Participants of the upcoming meeting of the Asia-Pacific fisheries industry to be held in Dhaka early next month (December) will draw up an action plan for boosting the sector, officials said. Â
The 29th Governing Council meeting of INFOFISH, an intergovernmental organisation related with fisheries industry of the Asia-Pacific region, will begin on December 1 and continue until 4th December.
The Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock (MoFL) will arrange the programme at Dhaka Regency Hotel. Minister for Fisheries and Livestock Muhammed Sayedul Hoque will inaugurate the meeting as the chief guest.
The upcoming council will inform the members about the activities undertaken by the organisation in the last 12 months. It will also present the summary review of the market situation and work plan for the year 2014-15.
It will help establish links and build relations with countries having expertise in this area.
Bangladesh attaches top priority to the forthcoming meeting considering its present success and scope for the future prospects in the fisheries sector, said a high official of the MoFL. Â
He said Bangladesh is now the fourth major fish producing country in the world, according to study reports of Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations (UN) on "The State of the World Fisheries and Aquaculture-2014".
The country produces around 3.49 million tonnes of fish annually of which around 2.0 million tonnes comes from aquaculture, according to the ministry concerned. Â
On the other hand Bangladesh's landmark settlement of maritime disputes with the neighbouring India and Myanmar has raised hope of extracting substantial marine resources from the Bay of Bengal.
INFOFISH is the leading source of marketing support for fish producers and exporters in the Asia-Pacific - a region which includes some of the largest fishing nations in the world.
It is primarily a self-financing 'service organisation' and, as an intergovernmental organisation, performs many functions that are similar to those of a marketing consultant.
This new regional intergovernmental organisation was established under a convention which was adopted at a conference convened by FAO in Kuala Lumpur in 1985 and which entered into force in March 1987.
It was originally launched in 1981 as a project of FAO. In 1987, it turned out to be an intergovernmental organisation providing marketing information and technical advisory services to the fishery industry of the Asia-Pacific region.
Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Iran, Malaysia, the Maldives, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Thailand, Fiji and Indonesia are the member countries of INFOFISH. Its headquarters is in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
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