Foreign Minister Dr. AK Abdul Momen on Sunday said that Bangladesh would face the rapid transformation in this ‘fast-changing’ world through empowering people.
“We are passing through a period of rapid transformation in this fast- changing world of many challenges. Each country has its own way of coming to terms with this change. Bangladesh under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina wants to approach this change through “People’s Empowerment” and developing the agents of change,” he said.
“This empowerment comes from skills, knowledge and technology,” Dr Momen said while speaking at the freshers’ reception event of the Islamic University of Technology (IUT).
Students from different member states of the Muslim countries grouping OIC enroll every year in IUT.
The foreign minister recalled with gratitude Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman whose participation in the 2nd OIC Summit in 1974 brought Bangladesh into the fold of OIC as a sequel of which the IUT, a subsidiary organ of the OIC emerged in Bangladesh within a few years of the OIC membership.
He believed that “this organisation should be the collective voice of Muslim World and it would work to promote international peace and harmony among various countries of the world.”
At the time of establishment, the main objective of IUT was to help generally in human resources development in member states of the OIC, particularly in different fields of science and engineering education.
“IUT is continuously working to fulfill its mission by producing quality graduates where majority of them are now working in the member states of the OIC and attached in the enhancement of socioeconomic development of the Muslim Ummah,” the foreign minister said.
He also noted that the IUT has started enrolling female students from the 2016-17 academic sessions with the Prime Minister’s encouragement.
OIC has also appreciated the Prime Minister for her governments’ support in building a women’s dormitory in the campus.
“I believe that OIC would bring in necessary assistance for expansion and success of this new initiative by arranging funding for the second phase of the building project. We also appreciate the University’s efforts for digitization and development of linkages,” he said.
“I would suggest the IUT authorities establish closer relationships with other seats of learning in relevant fields and take up schemes to enhance the quality and standard of the University’s education and degrees. I wish to see the institution turning into a center of excellence.”
