Mr Md. Faizur Rahman FARUQUI
Joint Secretary
Ministry of Cultural Affairs
Bangladesh

Honourable Secretary for Home Affairs of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), honourable cultural ministers of the participating countries, dear officials, ladies and gentlemen,

Good morning. It is my  pleasure to present at the Asia Cultural Co-operation Forum (ACCF). On behalf of our Ministry and on behalf of the Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh, I pay my heartfelt thanks for inviting us to such a nice and wonderful Forum. The ACCF has been providing an excellent platform for cultural ministers of the neighbouring Asian countries to share their experience, cultural policies and issues, and foster cultural co-operation and actions.

All of us know that Bangladesh is a land of cultural heritage and scenic beauty. As sea level change is a serious threat to our cultural heritage, the Government of Bangladesh has taken various and serious measures to conservation, preservation and development of the tourist facilities for development of the archaeological sites, which would appeal to extend the cultural ties. Bangladesh maintains 40 cultural programmes with different countries. I believe participating in constructive discussions will lead to new visions and missions and help explore a new arena of cultural co-operation among the countries. I would like to express my gratitude to the authority for organising the marvellous event. One more time on behalf of the Government of Bangladesh, I would like to thank the entire team and speakers of important works and sharing with us. Now I welcome the participants to enjoy a short presentation.

Our vision is to build a culturally intelligent nation, and our mission is to enhance and enrich the nation's intellect through preservation, research, deployment and promotion of native culture, history and heritage, spirit of liberation war and contemporary arts and literature. Proclamation of independence by our Father of Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the spirit of the war of Independence will ever remain living in the heart and mind of every single citizen of Bangladesh. The Ministry of Cultural Affairs of Bangladesh is the custodian in charge of maintaining the Bengali identity and cultural heritage with the 17 departments of Bangladesh.

The protection of culture heritage in Bangladesh is covered by the Constitution of the People's Republic of Bangladesh and relevant laws. Bangladesh has maintained 44 exchange programmes with various countries in the world, such as France, India, China and Japan.

Cultural heritage of the pre-historic period, the early historic period, the medieval period and the modern period are all found in Bangladesh. For example, the famous Lalbagh Fort in Dhaka is a key cultural heritage of Bangladesh in the Muslim Period. Also, we have two cultural heritage sites inscribed on the World Cultural Heritage List of UNESCO, namely the Ruins of the Buddhist Vihara at Paharpur and the Historic Mosque City of Bagerhat.

All of we know that that impact of salinity, sea level changes and urbanisation are the main causes of damage to cultural heritage. To mitigate that, development works are being carried out by the Government which include conservation, tourist facility development and museum display development. In the future, we will update the Antiquities Act 1968, and develop conservation strategies, the Antiquities Protection Policy and the Heritage Fund and Policy. Currently, we are also taking the initiative to update the UNESCO Cultural Heritage Tentative List to develop our heritage tourism.

Thank you.