Khurshed Alam elected IOCINDIO's chairperson

Rear admiral (Retd) Md Khurshed Alam, secretary (Maritime Affairs Unit) at the foreign ministry, has been elected as the chairperson of the IOC Regional Committee for the Central Indian Ocean (IOCINDIO) for three years, from May 2021 to May 2023.

The announcement came on Wednesday at the final day of the virtual meeting of the eighth session of IOCINDIO-VIII, says a press release.

At the meeting, Saif Mohammed Al Ghais from United Arab Emirates and Ms. Maryam Ghaemi from Islamic Republic of Iran were elected as the vice-chairpersons of IOCINDIO, which was established in 1982.

At present, Australia, Bangladesh, France, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, UAE and UK are the members of IOCINDIO.

IOCINDIO is recognized as a facilitator in the Indian Ocean region to promote ocean knowledge, sustained observations and services through continued improvement of ocean governance.

IOCINDIO-VIII meeting discussed about new projects and programmes and agreed that there is increasing recognition and understanding of the reliance of humankind on the vital life-supporting services provided by the ocean.

The high-level panel for a sustainable ocean economy considers the ocean as a source of solutions for climate change mitigation and for many dimensions of a sustainable ocean economy, including the future of food and energy.

Bangladesh is also an active member of the IOCWESTPAC sub-commission and recently hosted the 13th intergovernmental session of the IOC sub-commission for the Western Pacific (WESTPAC-XIII) that held virtually on 27 to 29 April, this year.