Minister for Foreign Affairs M Morshed Khan inaugurated the seminar as chief guest.

The exercise is jointly organised by Bangladesh Army and Commonwealth Office of the United Kingdom.

The 'Exercise Blue Tiger' has been designed to assess the present state of preparedness and improve the ability of the participating countries to conduct PSO encompassing issues related to humanitarian/refugee, civil-military relations, policing, disarmament and demobilisation, the handling of child soldiers and small arms.

About 50 representatives of military, diplomats, police and NGOs from Nepal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, UK and Bangladesh are participating in the exercise.

Bangladesh will provide a team of planners and practitioners from all the disciplines associated with the peacekeeping. Besides, a number of speakers from the United Kingdom are also taking part in the seminar.

M Morshed Khan said that peacekeeping these days is no more confined to mere mentioning, observing, investigating and reporting cease-fire violations, rather it has become a multi-national and multi-dimensional affairs with lot of challenges.

Morshed Khan hoped that the participants would deeply and intensively engage themselves in interacting, sharing and exchanging experiences and expertise with each other, which will help identify the challenges that the peacekeepers need to confront under different conditions and circumstances.

Chief of General Staff (CGS) of Bangladesh Army Major General SM Ikramul Haque delivered the welcome address. The British High Commissioner to Bangladesh Dr. David Carter also spoke on the occasion.

Major General Iqbal Karim Bhuiyan of Bangladesh Army and Head of UN Department of Foreign Commonwealth Office presented key-note papers on 'Bangladesh Sector Experience in Sierra Leone' and 'Exercise Blue Tiger' in the inaugural session respectively.

Chief of Army Staff Lieutenant General Hasan Mashhud Chowdhury, Chief of the Navel Staff Rear Admiral Shah Iqbal Mujtaba, Chief of Air Staff Vice Marshall Fakhrul Azam, Defence Secretary KM Ehsanul Haq, PSO of AFD Major General AIM Mustafa Reza Noor and IGP Shahudul Haque were present on the occasion.