Bangladesh Institute of Law and International Affairs (BILIA) was established on 30th June 1972 following the dissolution of the Pakistan Institute of Law and International Affairs (PILIA). The Institute is conceived as a forum for providing scholars and experts to relate to each other and to facilitate the formulation of common policies in important areas of law and international affairs in an interdependent world order. It must lie to the credit of the designers of the Institute that it has the capacity to undertake programmes concerning the business of the State and the Government. Although its full potential has never found expression in the particular field over the part decade, BILIA has the mandate and the resources to undertake programmes on Parliament, Judiciary and Executive. As a matter of fact, as the oldest Institute of its kind, it is the only centre of excellence in the country.
 
BILIA is a not-profit, independent and not-government research Institute located in Dhaka. It has an Executive Council comprising of judges, diplomats, lawyers, jurists and persons who are either practitioners of international relations or have taken an active interest in it. The Executive Council determines the policy and research programmes of the Institute