35 senior government officials going to Pakistan for training

The Ministry of Public Administration has issued a government order (GO) for 35 senior government officials to go to Pakistan for training. Among them there are five of additional secretary rank and 30 of joint secretary rank. This 14-day training will begin on November 9 at the National School of Public Policy in Lahore of Pakistan and will continue till November 22.

The Ministry of Public Administration issued the government order (GO) in this regard last Wednesday. The officials are scheduled to leave Dhaka on November 8.

This is the second time that senior officials of Bangladesh are going to Pakistan for training. Earlier in May this year 12 officials took training at the Civil Service Academy in Lahore of the country. That training which began on May 4 ended on May 21. Among the officials who took part in that phase one was of additional secretary rank and the remaining 11 were of joint secretary rank.

In this training there are four officials from the Ministry of Public Administration and two each from the Cabinet Division and the Prime Minister’s Office. The rest are from various ministries. After receiving the letter from the Ministry of Public Administration the names of the officials for training were selected from various ministries.

The government order said the Pakistan government will bear all expenses of travel, accommodation, food and training of the officials. There will be no financial involvement of the Bangladesh government in this visit. The participating officials will have to submit a report within five working days of returning to the country after the training.

It has been learnt that in this 14-day training on the invitation of the Pakistan government the methods of running the administration and development activities of the country will be taught. Besides, training will also be given on good governance, human resource management and government policy strategy.

Meanwhile sources in the Ministry of Public Administration said Mussoorie of India has long been one of the main destinations for foreign training of Bangladeshi government officials. Mid-level officials of Bangladesh used to regularly go for training at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration located in Mussoorie of Uttarakhand in India.

During the Awami League government this training programme began in 2014 through the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Ministry of Public Administration and the Delhi-based National Centre for Good Governance (NCGG). Later a second phase agreement was signed between the two countries on February 9, 2019. In the third phase an agreement was signed between the two sides in Dhaka on April 30, 2024. The tenure of the latest agreement was one year. There was also discussion on extending the tenure till 2030.