Bangladesh ambassadors, high commissioners and permanent representatives to different countries in six continents are returning to their workplaces happy after attending the first-ever envoys’ conference held over November 26-28 organised by the foreign ministry under the guidance of the Prime Minister’s Office.

While talking to The Independent, some of the envoys said that they are leaving the country with a better understanding of what the policymakers want including the head of the government and that they are now more motivated and encouraged than before.

They have also been of the opinion that this type of conference should be held regularly. The three-day conference had seven working sessions on various contemporary affairs. Besides, there was a briefing by the foreign minister on ‘Rohingya Crisis: Diplomacy in the Neighbourhood and Beyond’.

Apart from this, the conference saw interactive sessions with members of parliamentary standing committee on foreign ministry and senior secretaries to the government as well as a working lunch on Image Building and Branding Bangladesh.

There was, however, no interaction with the media which raised eyebrows of some envoys as well as officials of the foreign ministry.

An interaction between media and the envoys would have been very helpful, they noted.

The highlight of the whole conference, according to the envoys, was the interaction with the prime minister, who in two phases listened to all the 58 ambassadors, high commissioners and permanent representatives. This is quite unprecedented, said the envoys, adding that the prime minister took note of the perspectives put forward by them on different issues and assured of looking into them. The prime minister gave the envoys 10 hours and a half of her time, foreign secretary Shahidul Haque informed the closing ceremony. Out of head of 59 missions, ambassador to the United States could not attend due to some unavoidable circumstances.

During the conference, the envoys have been able to raise the issues relating to the activities of their missions and challenges regarding finance, logistics and human resources to the smooth functioning of the missions.     

“The conference was good. I am happy. The programmes were hectic. If this could have been done over five days things would have been better,” said ambassador to Myanmar Sufiur Rahman.

“We have also been able to speak to head of the government regarding our activities,” the envoy said, adding that all the envoys have now got directive directly from the prime minister about their role in resolving the crisis.

“It was really productive. The interactions with the policymakers helped us make our necessity known. It was also an opportunity to have envoy to envoy interactions and share the experiences and best practices,” Abdul Motaleb Sarker, ambassador to Lebanon, said. “As I leave the country for the place of my assignment, I can tell you that I am now more motivated and encouraged,” ambassador to Vietnam Samina Naz said.

Among others, she voiced her opinion in favour of holding this event regularly and most of the countries supported.