A BdREN delegation attended the 59th biannual Conference of APAN in Yokohama, Japan from March 03 to March 08, 2025. The delegation was led by Prof. Dr. S M A Faiz, Chairman of UGC and Chairperson of BdREN, and included representatives from its core team. The team actively participated in high-level discussions, technical presentations, and strategic networking sessions. In addition to that two fellows Md. Rayhan of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University and S N Shayokh of Gazipur Agricultural University participated the event from the member institutes of BdREN.

The Honourable Chairman, who participated the event as BdREN’s Governor to Asi@Connect project, attended the Asi@Connect Governors’ Meeting and stamped his presence with remarks about his optimism on the planned second phase of Asi@Connect project and his commitment on behalf of BdREN to make the next phase of Asi@Connect successful.

Mohammad Tawrit, Chief Executive Officer, BdREN led a panel discussion session on “Internet Governance”. The topic of this session was “NRENs’ role in shielding Internet Fragmentation”. The panellists in this session were from BdREN, Tsinghua University, LEARN, NREN, PERN and KISTI. Various Acts and Policies contributing to Internet Fragmentation in respective countries were presented and rigorous analysis and discussion followed. Also, audience actively participated in the question and answering session. The session ended up with some resolution on containing Internet Fragmentation targeting APAN60 and APAN61.

Chief Executive Officer of BdREN, also chaired two back-to-back sessions on collaborations of emerging NRENs in Asia-Pacific region. In these sessions various NRENs came up with the recent updates of their network and services and also with their future plans. Nafew of BdREN made a demonstration on FileSender Application developed by BdREN in collaboration with APAN. Arefin, BdREN and Rajan from NREN came up with eduroam usage in the airports of the respective countries. In the second session the planned activities of next phase of Asi@Connect were discussed and a survey was conducted to figure out the priority of planned services.

Md. Ariful Islam, Manager (Data & Transmission), showcased BdREN’s BGPWatch platform, a real-time network monitoring tool, while Kh. Rashedul Arefin, Manager (Data Center), outlined BdREN’s future initiatives to enhance research connectivity.

Dr. Mohammad Farooq Ali Tarafder, FCMA, ACS, CAFO of BdREN, attended the TEIN Governors Meeting as a steering committee member. He particularly focused on expanding BdREN’s integration with Asia-Pacific research networks. Mohammad Tawrit, CEO, BdREN was also present in the Governors’ Meeting as a special request from TEIN*CC to contribute on the planning of next phase of Asi@Connect.

BdREN officials Arefin took part in the AP-GAINED Workshop, facilitated by LEARN, as an instructor contributing to knowledge-sharing and regional capacity-building efforts. Khadizatul Kubra and Abu Naser Md. Nafew from BdREN joined the same workshop as fellows.

It was a wonderful opportunity for BdREN officials to discuss the issues, challenges and opportunities with the NREN representatives from different countries, APAN officials, and service providers from ORCID, Inspera, as well as representatives from GEANT during side meetings. Many ideas came out to grab certain opportunities and to overcome the existing challenges.

BdREN’s engagement at APAN59 reinforced its role in shaping up digital innovation and connectivity in Bangladesh as well as in the Asia-Pacific region. The delegation returned with key takeaways to further develop next-generation network solutions, particularly focusing on gearing up activities revolving around federation, governance of internet and artificial intelligence.