Minister of Cultural Affairs Visits CRI

Minister of Cultural Affairs Visits CRI

On 19/01/2016, the Honorable Minister for Cultural Affairs and renowned cultural personality Mr. Asaduzzaman Noor visited the offices of Centre for Research and Information (CRI). The primary agenda of the meeting was to explore ideas for cooperation between CRI and Ministry of Cultural Affairs (MoCA) as regards engaging youths in the various cultural activities and programmes of the Ministry.
After being appraised about the work CRI is doing with, and for the youths, of Bangladesh through its Young Bangla platform, the Hon. Minister discussed several areas where Young Bangla’s volunteers and awardees can be engaged constructively, including extension of CRI’s Vision 2021 Internship Programme to the MoCA. It should be noted that CRI has already entered into separate arrangements with a number of ministries securing government internships for young talents, and four interns have already started their involvement with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This initiative is the first of its kind in Bangladesh.

It was discussed that CRI, through its Young Bangla platform, could identify and recommend suitable cultural activists and organizations from across the country for such support from the MoCA as funds, grants, training, participation in overseas cultural tours, and specific support for local and community libraries. Other areas for cooperation between CRI and MoCA were also discussed such as safeguarding intellectual property rights of creative people in the cultural sector and promoting intellectual development of school and Madrassa students around Bangladesh.
During the meeting, two Joy Bangla Youth Award awardees Mr. H M Khairul Bashar and Mr. Keshob Roy, got the opportunity to directly interact with the Hon. Minister and discuss their work in the cultural sector. Both the awardees are doing fantastic work in their local areas, using cultural tools to achieve social justice such as stopping child marriages, improving adult literacy etc. Mr. Radwan Siddiq, Trustee of CRI and Mr. Sabbir Bin Shams (Executive Director, CRI), among others, were present during the meeting.

Leave a Reply