Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB) has recently signed a service agreement with the Ocean Policy Research Institute (OPRI) of the Sasakawa Peace Foundation, Japan. With this agreement, Bangladesh is included in the Climate and Ocean Risk Vulnerability Index (CORVI) project of OPRI. IUB will work as the institutional partner of OPRI for the CORVI project, Bangladesh chapter; and the Department of Economics, School of Business and Entrepreneurship (SBE), IUB will work as research collaborator of this project.

The virtual launching ceremony of CORVI project was jointly organized by Ocean Policy Research Institute (OPRI), Japan & Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB) on 7 October 2020. Prof. Atsushi Sunami, President of OPRI and Prof. Milan Pagon, Vice Chancellor (Acting) of IUB attended the ceremony as the guests of honour. Prof. Sarwar Uddin Ahmed, Dean (Acting), SBE-IUB, delivered the welcome speech.

The speakers emphasized on the importance of academic research on Bay of Bengal and its impact on climate, environment and the socio-economic condition of the nearby coastal areas; considering vulnerability and disaster management as important contemplation. Prof. Pagon explained IUB’s focus and interest to work on coastal areas of the Bay of Bengal and expressed the university’s intension to establish a centre for these researches. Prof. Sunami praised IUB for including Bangladesh in their CORVI project, and mentioned about OPRI’s interest to do similar collaborative projects with IUB in future.

Among others, Dr. Miko Maekawa and Mr. Hajime Tanaka of OPRI, CORVI Bangladesh project advisor Professor Dr. Niaz Ahmed Khan, and the project team members Professor Dr. Amir Nasrullah, and Dr. Khaled Saifullah were present in the ceremony. Dr. Emadul Islam, Lead & Coordinator of the project moderated the launching event. Dr. Shahriar Kabir, Associate Professor and Head, Department of Economics, SBE-IUB concluded the ceremony by delivering vote of thanks.