The High Level Meeting (HLM) of 14thHeads of Asian Coastguard Agencies Meeting (HACGAM) was held from 23-27 October 2018 at a hotel in Dhaka. Bangladesh Coastguard hosted this biggest Maritime Agencies meeting of Asia-Pacific region and beyond represented by Australia, Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Hong Kong (China), India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Myanmar, Pakistan, Philippines, South Korea, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Turkey, Vietnam, Bahrain participated as an observer and ReCAAP-ISC (The Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against ships in Asia – Information Sharing Centre) as an associate member.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the ceremony on 24 October as Chief Guest. Ministers, members of the parliament, high officials of government, foreign diplomats and media personnel were present on the occasion. Rear Admiral Aurangzeb Chowdhury was present as the chairperson the meeting, while Japan functions the secretariat activities of the meeting. HACGAM aims to promote safe, secure and clean seas. It covers the strengthening of co-operation among the members within a framework of four pillars, namely search and rescue, environmental protection, preventing and controlling unlawful acts at sea and capacity building.
It recognized the importance of enhancing the cooperative relationships among the HACGAM members to reach a more practical level. The accession of Bahrain Coastguard in HACGAM as a member strengthened HACGAM further.The HLM of 14th HACGAM came to an end with declaration of a join statement.
