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.

 

Ambassador Wali-ur Rahman joined the Pakistan Foreign Service in 1966. In 1971 he resigned from the Government of Pakistan at the Swiss Capital Berne in protest against the brutal army repression in former East Pakistan, now Bangladesh. He set up the Bangladesh Permanent Observer Mission to the European Office of the United Nations in Geneva and served as the first Head of Mission of Bangladesh from 1971-75 and piloted Bangladesh admission to all the UN agencies in Europe including 1AEA, WHO, UNCTAD, GATT, ILO, UNllK), FAO, WFP etc.

He addressed midshipmen on North-South dialogue at the US Naval Academy Annapolis and Nuffields College Oxford and National Defence College, Dhaka, on South Asian security issues. He has been a regular columnist in a leading national English daily. He has contributed articles/papers in professional journals at home and abroad.

He was as the first Head of the Permanent Mission of Bangladesh in Geneva. He later served as Ambassador to Italy, Switzerland and Tunisia, FAO, IFAD and WFP. As Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative of Bangladesh in New York, he was handling the Security Council affairs, when Bangladesh was a Security Council member. He has served as Bangladesh's Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, New York and represented Bangladesh at the UNGA's 34, 36dt, 37dt, 39dt and 40th Sessions. He was a visiting research fellow at Queen Elizabeth House, Oxford in 1993, where he worked on a book: Untold Story of a Nation on Bangladesh war of liberation. Before this, he spent a year at Trinity College, Oxford, for doing advanced courses in International Law, Diplomacy and International Finance and Development.

He served as Chairman, Governing Council of WFP. He was Chairman Council for Namibia Delegation to the Law of the Sea. He attended Non-aligned Summits in New Delhi and Havana, Commonwealth Summits in Papua New Guinea and Fiji and OIC Summit in Casablanca. He was co-ordinator of informal Group of Disannulment and Development in 2nd SSOD, New York. Was Vice Chairman of 2nd SSOD, Preparatory Committee-Special, Session of UNGA devoted to Disannulment. He served as member of expert group for UN reports on Economic and Social Consequences of Arms Race and Military Expenditure (ESCAR) set up by Secretary-General. He attended Energy South Asia Conference by the US Energy Dept. in Kathmandu. He attended Energy and Gas Conference at Washington D.C. sponsored by International Gas Association. He has served as election monitor in several countries around the world including Sri Lanka and Tanzania.

Ambassador Wali-ur Rahman was previously Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Government of Bangladesh as well as the Special Envoy of former Prime Minister. He was also Director-in- charge, Political, Legal and Information Department in the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) at Jeddah 1978 and facilitated the resolution of the explosive Rohynga refugee problem in Bangladesh. '

Ambassador Rahman also negotiated along with late Foreign Minister Mr. Humayun Rashid Chowdhury, the MOU regarding participation of the Bangladesh Army in peacekeeping operations with the UN Secretary General Pares De Quellar. Besides, he was a member of the UN Secretary General appointed committee on the Economic and Social Consequences of Arms and Military Expenditure (ESCAR) for 6 years and published 5 books on this subject.

Ambassador Rahman is also hosting an English talk-show at the Bangladesh National Television once a week. Now he is hosting a Bangla programme ‘The New Horizon’ at BTV’. Besides he participates in various national programmes in Bangladesh electronic media in support of the democratic and institutional reforms, particularly the government campaign against corruption in the country. He also contributes to the National and International publications from time to time. He participated the Conference on China and SAARC: Toward a Partnership of Common Prosperity held from April 19-20, 2008 at Beijing, China organized by the China Institute of International Studies (CIIS). He also visited Brussels and Berlin from March 02 to March 09, 2008 as the Heads of SAARC-Think tanks invited by The Konrad-Adnauer-Stiftung.

He is a life member of Oxford Union Society; Member of International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS), London; Associate Member of International Peace Academy, New York; Member Society for International development (SID) Rome; Member Bangladesh Pugwash Society; Life Member of Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB), Have interacted with both Heritage Foundation, Carnegie Institute Peace and American Enterprize Institute; Life Member of Dhaka University Alumni Association; Life Member, Bangla Academy; Life Member Bangladesh History Council, Dhaka University; Life Member of Asiatic Society. His publications include:

UN: We Believe In; A Decade of Bangladesh in the UN; Bangladesh and the United Nations; Allume Le Lamp Dore: Translation of Bengali Poems into French, sponsored by Bangla Academy, Aryan-Dravidian Synthesis: Fear or Hope (in the works); Untold Story of a Nation (in works); Revised Editions of UN: We Believe In (in works); Translated contemporary Bangla Poems of recognized Bangla Poets into French. Bangla Academy sponsored it. Four Books are now in the works. He is the Editor of the Journal of International Affairs and Editor of an Anatomy of BILIA Judicial Training with Difference.

1) Emergence of Bangladesh as the 136th UN member state: Role of superpowers in the shadow of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in a Pakistani jail. 2) A Diplomats Diary (3) Bangla translation of the poems of Yuvteschenko and Pablo Neruda. His book Transition to Democracy is being published by the UPL.