State minister for foreign affairs Md Shahriar Alam held a diplomatic briefing centring the election of the IMO having 175 member states, and 40 of them are voters as the IMO council members.
‘Captain Moin Ahmed, who has been serving as the director general of the International Mobile Satellite Organisation of the IMO for the second consecutive term efficiently, will contest the post of secretary-general of the IMO from Bangladesh. We have sought votes for him,’ Shahriar told reporters after the diplomatic briefing at the State Guesthouse Padma in the Dhaka city.
He said that all diplomats from the council member states stationed in Dhaka excepting six having candidates for the same post were invited to the event.
Asked about the absence of Saudi Arabia’s envoy as a total of diplomats from 25 countries including the United States, India, United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, Sweden, German and the Netherlands were invited to the briefing, the junior minister said that Saudi ambassador had some pre-engagement.
About the movement of the US ambassador, Peter Hass, with no flag on his transport days after the withdrawal of the police escort, Shahriar said that nothing was told about the use of flags on the diplomats’ transport.
The political counsellor of the Indian High Commission in Dhaka represented India in the briefing in the absence of the high commissioner, according to officials.
The government has withdrawn ‘additional police escorts’ given to the heads of missions of four countries—the United States, the United Kingdom, India, and Saudi Arabia—with effect from Monday and decided not to provide the service to any diplomat from now on.
The government would, however, provide on demand the Bangladesh Ansar members, being prepared especially for the duty, on payment.
Shahriar said that Bangladesh provided better and more effective security to foreign diplomats than many other countries.
At the weekly press briefing, foreign ministry spokesperson Seheli Sabrin at the ministry said that all foreign missions here would be notified soon about the development in terms of additional escort for movement of the mission heads.
Bangladesh has nominated Navy captain Moin Ahmed as a candidate for the post, who was present at the diplomatic briefing, she said.
Candidates from Finland, China, Turkey, Dominica, Kenya and Panama are contesting the same post.
The election will take place at the IMO headquarters in London on July 18, according to the IMO.
Following the election in July 2023, the decision of the IMO council will be submitted to the 33rd session of the assembly of IMO in late 2023.
The assembly will be invited to approve the appointment, and the elected secretary-general will take office on January 1, 2024.
The four-year second consecutive term of the incumbent secretary-general, Kitack Lim of the Republic of Korea, expires on December 31, 2023.
The IMO is a United Nations specialised agency with responsibility for the safety and security of shipping and prevention of marine and atmospheric pollution by ships.
