Foreign Affairs Adviser Touhid Hossain says at Bengal Delta Conference 2025
Foreign Affairs Adviser Touhid Hossain has said Bangladesh's youth will not allow the continuation of outdated political practices, stressing that the younger generation will eventually transform the country's political culture.
"They will bring about change; if not today, then tomorrow," he said while inaugurating the two-day international event "Bengal Delta Conference 2025: Bangladesh at the Crossroads" at the InterContinental Dhaka today.
The conference has been organised by the Dacca Institute of Research and Analytics (DAIRA), a newly-formed think tank.
Touhid Hossain acknowledged that young people will make mistakes along the way but said those experiences will eventually shape meaningful reform. "They will gain experiences and make changes 10 to 15 years down the line," he added.
He lamented the overall institutional decline in Bangladesh, pointing particularly to the country's education system. "Except for a small percentage of people, education quality is very poor. That is something that needs a sea change," he said.
In his speech, Dr Mushtaq Khan, Professor of Economics at SOAS University of London, said many citizens feel disappointed a year after the mass uprising that reshaped Bangladesh's political landscape.
"I would stress on the achievements of the unarmed people," he said, adding that the Bengal Delta has a history of rich culture and resistance against autocracy.
He argued that the concentration of economic and political power had created oligarchs and entrenched authoritarianism. "There has been lots of infrastructural development at high prices, described as progress, but it came with huge debt. This model of economic development was meant to collapse," he said.
According to him, the power structure has remained largely unchanged since the political transition in August last year. "There are issues of disappointment, but I am optimistic," he noted.
Mahfuz Anam, Editor and Publisher of The Daily Star, lauded Bangladeshis for their history of mass mobilisations against authoritarian regimes but cautioned that institutional reform has lagged behind.
"People in Bangladesh have time and again proven they have big dreams and imaginations," he said. "However, the practical actions and institutions needed to sustain those changes have not been developed."
He stressed that lasting progress requires building strong institutions rather than using politics merely as a pathway to power. "We are rich in politics but use politics to go to power," he said. "This culture must end if democracy is to thrive."
Other speakers at the inaugural session included Siddharth Varadarajan, Editor of The Wire; Dr Maszlee Malik, former education minister of Malaysia; Dr Dipak Gyawali, former water resources minister of Nepal; and Prof Niaz Ahmed Khan, Vice Chancellor of Dhaka University.
