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VICTORY DAY COMMEMORATIVE SEMINAR HELD ON 07 DECEMBER 2008 Victory Day Commemorative Seminar on Security of Bangladesh: Contemporary Perspectives was held on Thursday, 07 December 2008 at BIISS Auditorium. Dr. Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, Hon'ble Adviser for Foreign Affairs Caretaker Government of Bangladesh graced the occasion as Chief Guest and Maj Gen Moinul Hossain Chowdhury, BB (Retd) Former Adviser, Caretaker Government of Bangladesh chaired the seminar session. Two papers were presented in the seminar- Professor M. Shahiduzzaman of Dhaka University presented a paper on Security of Bangladesh: National Perspective and Ambassador Shahed Akhtar, Principal, Foreign Service Academy presented a paper on Security of Bangladesh: Regional and Global Perspective. The designated discussants for the papers presented were Dr. Abdur Rob Khan, Research Director, BIISS and Ambassador M. Anwar Hashim, Former Secretary. Amongst others the seminar was also attended by a good number of former Bangladesh Ambassadors and Ambassadors/Defence Attache's of foreign embassies in Dhaka. The open discussion of the seminar was a very healthy and fruitful one as most of the participants were experts and regular contributors on defence and security related such issues. It may be mentioned here that every year BIISS organizes this seminar on the occasion of our grand victory day focusing on the topics of national security and related issues.
BIISS DIRECTOR ATTENDED COURSE ON SECURITY SECTOR REFORM (SSR) AT MANILA
Colonel A K M Nazrul Islam, afwc, psc, G, Research Director, BIISS attended a course on SSR conducted by the Institute for Strategic and Development Studies (ISDS), Philippines, from 09 December 2008 to 11 December 2008 at Manila. ISDS as member institutions of the Association for Security Sector Reform Education and Training (ASSET) conducted this course in collaboration with the Global Facilitation Network for Security Sector Reform (GFN-SSR) and the International Security Sector Reform Advisory Team (ISSAT). The course aimed to promote a better understanding of SSR and furthering the development of SSR capacity building. It provided the participants with an introduction to the international good practices on the political and technical aspects of SSR, as well as SSR assessment methods, programme design, coordination, and financing. The course was attended by 23 participants from 11 South and South East Asian countries including Bangladesh.
PARTICIPATION IN COUNCIL FOR ASIAN TERRORISM RESEARCH SYMPOSIUM BY BIISS DIRECTOR DR. SHAHEEN AFROZE
Dr. Shaheen Afroze, Research Director, BIISS participated in the Seventh Biannual Symposium of the Council for Asian Terrorism Research (CATR) on Transnational Security Threats and Counter-measures The Role of Cultural Education: Building Cross-Cultural Understanding and Countering Radicalization and Projecting the Future Threats of Terrorism After the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan from 11-13 November 2008 in Tokyo, Japan. Dr. Afroze made a presentation on The Role of Cultural Education in Countering Radicalization. CATR is a consortium of the Asian countries aiming to bring collective knowledge and effort in countering global terrorism. It is an initiative of the US government and coordinated from Institute of Defence Analysis (IDA), Washington.
DR. ROB ATTENDED NTS-ASIA 2ND ANNUAL CONVENTION HELD IN BEIJING
Dr. Abdur Rob Khan, Research Director, BIISS, attended NTS-Asia 2nd Annual Convention held in Beijing under the auspices of Centre for NTS Asia, Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyan Technological University, Singapore, and Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies (IAPS), Chinese Academy of Social Science, Beijing, during 10-11, November 2008. Key themes deliberated in the Convention were: disaster diplomacy, food security, energy security and transnational crime. It may be mentioned that BIISS is a founding member of the NTS-Asia network with its secretariat at the Singapore-based NTS Centre. The programme is funded by the Ford Foundation.
BIISS FACULTY MEMBERS PARTICIPATED DOHA PLENARY MEETING OF REGIONAL NETWORK OF STRATEGIC STUDIES CENTER
A four member delegation led by Colonel A K M Nazrul Islam, afwc, psc, G, Research Director, BIISS participated in the 4th Plenary Meeting of Regional Network of Strategic Studies Center held at Doha, Qatar from 2-5 November 2008. The Qatar Armed Forces Strategic Studies Center hosted this meeting. The goals of the meeting were to discuss various strategic issues of interest in plenary session and continue making progress on the work plans by the four working groups. BIISS representation in the four working groups were: Combating Terrorism- Colonel A K M Nazrul Islam, afwc, psc, G, Nontraditional Security Issues- Mr. A K M Abdus Sabur, Democracy and Governance- Mrs. Neila Husain Choudhury and WMD/Border Security- Mr. Abu Saleh Md Yousuf. The Network is a partnership of strategic study centers primarily located in the Near East South Asia region, and currently enjoys involvement from over thirty centers.
70TH BOARD OF GOVERNORS MEETING
The 70th Board of Governors Meeting of BIISS was held at BIISS Auditorium at 1100 hours on 22 October 2008. This was the second Board of Governors Meeting held in this year. Ambassador Mufleh R. Osmany, Chairman, Board of Governors, BIISS chaired the meeting. Following members of BIISS Board of Governors attended the meeting: Major General Sina Ibn Jamali, awc, psc, Rear Admiral A S M A Awal, ndc, psc, MDS, BN, Air Commodore Mohammad Delwar Hossain, awc, psc, Mr.Md. Touhid Hossain, Mr. M. A. K. Mahmood, Ms. Suraiya Begum, Professor Muzaffer Ahmed, Dr. Mohammad Jahirul Islam and Major General Abu Belal Muhammad Shafiul Huq, ndc, psc.
PUBLICATION ON NATIONAL SECURITY OF BANGLADESH
Book entitled Whither National Security Bangladesh 2007 is going to be launched by this institute very soon. This is the end result of Annual Review of National Security of Bangladesh 2007†program of BIISS.