Thirty-five senior Bangladeshi government officials will travel to Pakistan for training under a development programme. Five of them hold the rank of additional secretary and 30 the rank of joint secretary. The 14-day course at the National School of Public Policy in Lahore runs from November 9 to November 22.
The Ministry of Public Administration issued a government order on the training on Wednesday.
In May, 12 senior Bangladeshi officials went to Pakistan for training for the first time. They trained at the Civil Services Academy (CSA) in Lahore from May 4 to May 21.
One of them held the rank of additional secretary and the other 11 were joint secretaries.
The 35 officials now going to Lahore make up the second batch. Four are from the Ministry of Public Administration and two each from the Cabinet Division and the Prime Minister’s Office. The rest come from various ministries. They are due to leave Dhaka on November 8. The ministries chose their officials after receiving a letter from the Ministry of Public Administration.
The government order says the Pakistani government will pay for the officials’ travel, accommodation, meals and all training costs, and that the Bangladesh government bears no financial cost for the visit. Participants must submit a report within five working days of returning home.
Mostafa Zaman, an additional secretary at the Ministry of Public Administration who is first on the list, said the 14-day course, offered at the invitation of the Pakistani government, would teach how that country’s administration and development work are run. It will also cover good governance, human resource management and public policy strategy.
Ministry sources said Mussoorie in India had long been one of the main overseas training destinations for Bangladeshi civil servants. Mid-level Bangladeshi officials regularly trained at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration in Mussoorie, in the Indian state of Uttarakhand. The programme began in 2014, under the Awami League government, with a memorandum of understanding between the Ministry of Public Administration and the Delhi-based National Centre for Good Governance (NCGG). A second agreement followed on February 9, 2019, and a third was signed in Dhaka on April 30, 2024. The last agreement ran for one year, and there had also been talks on extending it to 2030.
According to ministry sources, relations between Dhaka and Delhi became strained after the Awami League government fell in the student-led mass uprising on August 5, 2024. No Bangladeshi officials have been sent to India for training since then. The programme has stopped because of the political change, diplomatic tension, the expiry of the agreement and visa difficulties. Senior officials are being sent to Pakistan instead.
Officials say training in both India and Pakistan is needed. In their view, overseas training strengthens bilateral cooperation, allows administrative experience to be shared and develops leadership. Keeping a balance in relations with both countries also matters given the geopolitical realities of South Asia, they said.
Ministry sources said Pakistan had invited Bangladesh by letter several times to send officials for training, but the Awami League government did not respond. The matter came up again when Nasimul Gani, then home secretary under the interim government and now cabinet secretary, visited Pakistan. Pakistan proposed training Bangladeshi officials, and Dhaka responded positively. After the BNP formed the government following the 13th parliamentary election, Pakistan sent a formal invitation through Bangladesh’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The officials are being sent mainly on the basis of that invitation.
An official at the Ministry of Public Administration said Bangladesh and Pakistan have not yet signed a formal agreement on training. Officials are being sent for now so that the two sides can build understanding and get to know each other before an agreement is signed, he said. Government sources said the visit is part of a programme to build administrative capacity.
Public administration analysts say sending officials to Pakistan for training also carries a diplomatic message in the political context of South Asia. In their view, officials should be trained in several countries rather than relying on any single one.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report