35 senior B'desh officials to receive training in Pakistan

Thirty-five senior Bangladesh government officials are set to travel to Pakistan for a 14-day training programme on public administration, governance and policy management.

The training will begin on November 9 at the National School of Public Policy in Lahore and continue until November 22. The delegation will include five additional secretaries and 30 joint secretaries.

The Ministry of Public Administration issued a government order (GO) on November 4 confirming the officials' participation.

The officials are scheduled to leave Dhaka on November 8. Four officials are from the Ministry of Public Administration, while two each are from the Cabinet Division and the Prime Minister's Office. The remaining participants are from different ministries.

According to the government order, the Pakistani government will bear all expenses related to travel, accommodation, food and training. The Bangladesh government will have no financial involvement in the visit. Participants will be required to submit reports within five working days of returning home.

Mustafa Zaman, an additional secretary at the Ministry of Public Administration and the first official on the delegation list, said the programme would cover Pakistan's administrative system and development activities, alongside governance, human resource management and public policy strategies.

This will be the second visit by Bangladeshi senior officials to Pakistan for training. In May this year, 12 officials, including one additional secretary and 11 joint secretaries, attended a training programme at the Civil Services Academy in Lahore from May 4 to 21.

For years, Mussoorie in India's Uttarakhand was one of the key destinations for Bangladeshi government officials seeking overseas administrative training. Officials regularly attended programmes at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration.

The training arrangement with India began in 2014 following a memorandum of understanding between the Ministry of Public Administration and the New Delhi-based National Centre for Good Governance (NCGG). The two sides signed a second agreement on February 9, 2019, followed by a third agreement in Dhaka on April 30, 2024. The latest agreement was valid for one year, with discussions also held on extending it until 2030.

However, training programmes in India stopped following the fall of the Awami League government on August 5, 2024, amid strained diplomatic relations between Dhaka and New Delhi. The expiry of the agreement and visa complications also contributed to the suspension, according to ministry sources.

Officials and experts have stressed the importance of maintaining training opportunities in both India and Pakistan, saying overseas programmes can promote bilateral cooperation, exchange administrative experience and strengthen leadership skills.

Pakistan had invited Bangladesh to send government officials for training on several occasions, but the invitations were not accepted during the Awami League government's tenure, according to ministry sources.

The proposal gained renewed attention after Nasimul Gani, then home secretary and now Cabinet Secretary, visited Pakistan during the interim government. Pakistan subsequently expressed interest in hosting Bangladeshi officials for training.

Following the formation of the BNP government after the 13th parliamentary election, Pakistan formally sent an invitation through Bangladesh's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

A Ministry of Public Administration official said Bangladesh and Pakistan had not yet signed any formal agreement on the training programme. The current visits are intended to facilitate mutual understanding and the exchange of administrative experience before a formal agreement is reached.

Administrative experts say the initiative also carries diplomatic significance amid South Asia's changing political landscape. They have argued that Bangladesh should maintain training opportunities in multiple countries rather than depend on a single destination.

sks