On March 16, 2022, The Bridge Tank held the final workshop in a series of three with the mandate of the French Development Agency on blue economy in the Bay of Bengal (Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka). This workshop aimed at the identification of possible bilateral and regional cooperation with the contribution of the French know-how in the maritime field. It also aimed at open up the conversation to design solutions which the French side could contribute in response to the challenges identified during the first two workshops in collaboration with key players in the Bay of Bengal region.
The discussion was based on 6 main takeaways in terms of needs and gaps identified from the first two workshops:
- The role of blue economy in the region
- The role of data
- Improving coordination
- Strengthening private and public cooperation
- Promoting institutional capacity building in front of data collection and coordination
- Developing pilot projects
This workshop was comprised of three closed-door panels:
Panel 1: Institutional cooperation and ambitions at regional level with the support of French know-how
Moderator: Dr. Joël Ruet, President, The Bridge Tank
- Dr. (Mrs) Hélène Djoufelkit, Research Director of the AFD
- Mrs. Runa Khan, Founder & Executive Director of the Friendship NGO
- Mr. Daniel Fernando, Chairperson, Blue Resources Trust, Sri Lanka
- Dr. Arnab Das, Executive Director & Founder, Maritime Research Centre, India
- Mr. Matthieu Piron, Policy officer for international affairs, Directorate for Sea Fisheries and Aquaculture, Ministry for the Sea
- Mr. Benoît Gauthier, Head of the Regional Economic Service, Embassy of France in India
- Vice Admiral Pradeep Chauhan, Director-General, National Maritime Foundation, India
- Dr. P. Krishnan, Director, Bay of Bengal Inter-Governmental Organization (BOBP-IGO), regional
Panel 2: Developing nationally and regionally viable projects to enhance the value chains of blue economy
Moderator: Dr. Joël Ruet, President, The Bridge Tank
- Mr. Manish Singhal, Deputy Secretary General, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI), India
- Mr. Martin Lemenager, Senior Program Manager for Infrastructure, AFD Office in Indonesia
- Mr. Loïc Monod, Bioeconomy research officer, France AgriMer
- Mr. Nicolas Vuillaume, Indian Ocean Representative, Collecte Localisation Satellites (CLS)
- Dr. Mostafa A. R. Hossain, Professor, Aquatic Biodiversity & Climate Change, Department of Fish. Biology & Genetics, Bangladesh Agricultural University, consultant with AFD Bangladesh
- Dr. Arnab Das, Executive Director & Founder, Maritime Research Centre, India
- Mr. Aruna Maheepala, Senior Research Officer of National Aquatic Resources Research and Development Agency of Sri Lanka
- Mr. Shri Aditya Dash, Vice Chairman, Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA), India
- Mr. Bruno Bosle, Country director of the AFD Office in India
- Mr. Reda Souirgi, AFD Sri Lanka, represented by Mrs. Panchali Ellepola, Project Officer
- Mr. Benoît Chassatte, Country director of the AFD Office in Bangladesh
Panel 3: Enhancing shared resources through a regional network & general conclusion
Moderator: Dr. Joël Ruet, President, The Bridge Tank
- Mrs. Afifat Khanam Ritika, Research Officer Bangladesh Institute of Maritime Research and Development
- Mr. Pattabhi Rama Rao, Group Director, Ocean Observations, Modelling and Data Assimilation Group, Indian National Center for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS)
- Dr. (Mrs) Hélène Djoufelkit, Research Director of the AFD
- Dr. Joël Ruet, President, The Bridge Tank
- Mr. Jacky Amprou, Regional Director for South-Asia, AFD
The spirit of this project is to organize a series of three workshops, co-hosted by The Bridge Tank and the French Development Agency. The first workshop, which was organized in November 26th, 2022, aimed at gathered strategic thinking of the participants ahead of developing a growing interaction between them and institutes and policy makers in the second workshop, in January 21st, 2022.
Read our report here and our executive summary here
Watch the replay of our workshop here