Post Desk : Bangladesh High Commissioner to the UK and the Permanent Representative to International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and International Mobile Satellite Organisation (IMSO) Ms. Saida Muna Tasneem has been unanimously elected as the Vice-Chair of the 26th Assembly of IMSO for the biennial 2021-2022 at the week-long Assembly held recently in London.

The Assembly is the top policy-making body of the 106-member International Mobile Satellite Organisation, the only international organisation that oversees public satellite safety and security in maritime communication services provided by mobile satellite communication systems.

Following her election, High Commissioner Tasneem pledged to work closely with fellow IMSO member states towards improving global mobile satellite communication systems as well as effective implementation of Global Maritime Safety and Security System protocols including the Long Range Identification and Tracking of Ships and Safety of Life at Sea Conventions.

“As a Bay of Bengal maritime nation guided by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visionary maritime safety initiatives including launching of the Bangabandhu-1 Satellite, I would, during my two-year tenure, specially pursue greater safety and security of mobile satellite communication systems for sustainable maritime safety”, she said.

Earlier Bangladesh High Commissioner to the UK and the Commonwealth Saida Muna Tasneem was also unanimously elected as a member of the Commonwealth Foundation Grants Committee for the term 2020-2021. The High Commissioner said “Bangladesh since its membership of the Commonwealth in 1973 under the charismatic leadership of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, is committed to enhancing its engagements and leadership with all-important policy-making bodies of the Commonwealth, including the Commonwealth Foundation that provides Commonwealth grants for funding of socio-economic developments projects in Commonwealth countries. Earlier, Bangladesh was successfully elected and served as the member of the Commonwealth Executive Committee for the term 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 and at the Commonwealth (NGOs)Accreditation Committee for the term 2019-2020. The Commonwealth Foundation is one of Commonwealth’s three principal agencies alongside the Commonwealth Secretariat and the Commonwealth of Learning.

As part of Bangladesh’s sustained leadership bids at the Commonwealth, in October 2020 Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dr Abdul Momen was elected as Chair of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group on Guyana.