The British Council opened its East Pakistan regional office in Dhaka in 1953, which then became our Bangladesh office in 1972.  We now have offices in Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet.

At the heart of our work in Bangladesh, and in the 109 countries in which we work around the world, are cultural relations:

• Cultural relations are powerful: they promote co-existence, they build international trust and understanding, they generate opportunities for individuals to fulfil their potential and they develop the co-operation that contributes to a stable world.
• Cultural relations work over the long term, protecting both diversity and individual identity and bringing the people of Bangladesh and the UK closer together.

We believe that cultural relations can address the great global issues of our time and we work with our Bangladeshi friends and partners in what we see as the three priority global challenges:

• building intercultural dialogue and positive social change
• creating opportunities for people to participate in the creative and knowledge economy
• and tackling the threat to us all presented by climate change.

A long-term and successful response to the difficult and seemingly intractable global issues that are challenging people everywhere will require more than government-to-government action, more than international agreements, more than politics: it must include bringing people together to share ideas, skills and knowledge and to experience one another’s cultures. We seek to ensure that people-to-people contacts, links and relationships are at the heart of everything that we do.

So, for example, our programmes of links between schools, colleges and universities here and in the UK, while they undoubtedly have institutional and systemic elements, are ultimately about relationships between people here and in the UK – pupils, students, teachers, researchers, administrators and so on. Our programmes in culture and the arts are about enabling creative Bangladeshi and British people to work with and learn from each other, whether that is in music, the performing arts or design – it is all about collaboration and co-operation. Two new programmes, International Climate Champions and Active Citizens, will also be about building relationships, creating access for young people to networks and civil society to help address the urgent issues facing us all.

Some examples of our activities:

• by mid-2010 we shall be managing links between over 250 schools (involving many thousands of students) and over 25 universities in both Bangladesh and the UK
• by the end of 2011, in partnership with the Ministries of Youth & Sport, Education, Primary & Mass Education, Women’s & Children’s Affairs, and with UNICEF, our International Inspiration programme will have enabled 1,000,000 Bangladeshi children to engage in new and inclusive physical education and sport
• every year we enable over 50,000 Bangladeshis take UK examinations and over 8,000 participate in our general and corporate English courses

Contact address:
British Council
5 Fuller Road
Dhaka 1000
Bangladesh
Phone : 8618905

Web: www.britishcouncil.org/bangladesh

Email: enquiries@bd.britishcouncil.org