Dhaka Thursday February 25, 2010

Foreign relations: Taking a direction

Ashfaqur Rahman
...................................................

Zobaer Hossain Sikder

To assess the performance of the Awami League-led government in foreign relations over the last year is an exercise in looking at an unfolding scenario of new possibilities.

At the outset there are no markers to go by. In its election manifesto it defined its foreign policy generally as 'friendship with all and malice to none'. This is an old adage, which denotes no specific goals and is subject to nebulous interpretations. Historically, Bangladesh pursues friendship with all countries except Israel. We do not recognise that country and follow precepts laid down by the UN and the other international bodies in recognising and developing inter-state relations.

Secondly, our foreign minister Dr. Dipu Moni in one of her public statements had said that Bangladesh does not need to articulate a new foreign policy as the policy is already written in our constitution. True, what she referred to was Article 25, clauses 1 and 2, wherein the authors of the constitution had laid down the Fundamental Principles of State Policy. Hence with no foreign policy debates and with no White Paper on specific international or bilateral issues in Parliament, one has to depend on the Prime Minister's statements from time to time or that of the Foreign Minister to decipher the course of foreign relations.

Ostensibly, the flurry of visits abroad by these leaders is the only indication that they are in pursuit of some foreign policy goals. There is no doubt that the Prime Minister has spent a chunk of her time in the last one year in handling external affairs. This is not to say that she has wasted any of this precious time. In fact by doing so, she has quietly laid down that foreign affairs could be an integral part of good governance and in a globalised world any government worth its salt should assiduously follow up on its foreign policy aspirations.

Foreign policy
On May 5, 2009 in a presentation at our National Defense College, Dr. Dipu Moni articulated what is this government's foreign policy. She said that the foreign policy of Bangladesh has been designed to 'promote the domestic policies of Bangladesh in the international context, which in turn are formulated in compliance with the fundamental principles enshrined in the constitution of Bangladesh'. In this regard, she said that her major areas of work will be in:
1. International trade
2. Overseas employment
3. Foreign direct investment
4. Overseas development assistance

Her policy priorities are in 'strengthening relations with our neighboring and regional countries, including SAARC and BIMSTEC'.

Star File Photo

Cataloguing the fundamental pillars of present Bangladesh foreign policy, she further said that 'promotion and protection of human rights at home and abroad' is of essence. She stated that Bangladesh has declared zero tolerance towards extra judicial killings. The Government has also reiterated that ensuring people's economic, social and cultural rights and their right to development were of paramount importance.

Dr Dipu Moni while explaining Bangladesh's style and conduct of foreign policy said that multilateralism would be the 'bedrock of foreign policy' as it is perceived as a 'source of strength and security for a small country like Bangladesh.'

Halfway through 2009, we have from the government an elaboration of what it would be its foreign policy. Of course many of the elements contained in it had been policy also of several past Governments. Important aspects missing in the policy were addressing matters like international nacro-terrorism, pandemics and globalization itself which have taken centre stage in the world of foreign relations. A sceptic would say that the policy enunciated by Dr Dipu Moni relates more to what our Ministry of Commerce and our External Relation Division of the Ministry of Finance are engaged in. The remit of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in policy remains in handling foreign visits of our VVIPs and consular matters and reacting to external developments in the region and around the world. The core professionals in her Ministry of again left out of policy formulation and relegated to pen-pushing on behalf of other Ministries. Foreign policy per se should be much more than what has been laid down. The centrality of Foreign Affairs in governance is always a hall-mark of democratic dispensation. Hence the ministry of Foreign Affairs need to be involved in policy making in a wide range of issues which could have regional and international implications.

An assessment of performance of the ministry of Foreign affairs and its conduct of Foreign policy however is in order.

Bilateral relations
Let us begin with bilateral relations. Honorable Prime Minister at the beginning of her term went calling on the Saudi King and performed Umrah. Her talks with Saudi leadership centered on the various problems which more than 2 million Bangladeshi workers face in that country. According to press reports she discussed the 'akama' (work-permit) problem as well as the prospects of future recruitment of Bangladeshi's employment in that country. She was assured that on both counts the Saudi authorities would look at Bangladesh sympathetically. Subsequent developments do not attest to any significant progress. What the prime minister did on her own account was to use up the 'last resort' i.e. her own presence to resolve an issue which one of her ministers could have initially handled. The Honorable Prime Minister could have waited and go to meet the King at a later date with assets which the Saudi Government would be willing to accept in return conceding the 'akama' as well as start recruiting more Bangladeshis. However we are told that the Saudi bureaucracy takes their time to implement Royal instructions and we may yet see the Akama coming our way.

Honorable Prime Minister's next visit was to Qatar. Her talks there related to substantive matters. Items like Qatar financial support for river dredging, establishment of community hospitals, exploration and distribution of gas and oil, construction of community shelters in the coastal region against floods and cyclones as well as training of Bangladeshi manpower before sending them on jobs abroad were broached. The assurances received were also followed up and developments started taking place. Her next visit was to the UAE with meetings held at the level of Deputy President and the Prime Minister and with the Ruler of Dubai. These were perhaps more in the nature of getting to know each other.

The bilateral engagements which were of immediate significance to Bangladesh were the ones with Myanmar and India.

Dr. Dipu Moni moved purposefully to work on developing relations with Myanmar. She visited the new capital and met the top leaders. Bangladesh has three areas of concern with that country. They are 1. The repatriation of the remaining 28000 or more Rohingyas who have taken refuge in Coxs Bazar district 2. The demarcation of maritime boundary with Bangladesh and 3. To increase bilateral trade. In her meetings she clearly laid down Bangladesh's position and tried to understand what Myanmar's stand were on those matters.

In a subsequent meeting with the Foreign minister's of the countries of the region held in Bali last April, Dr. Dipu Moni likened the unfortunate fate of the Rohingyas with that of the Vietnamese 'boat people'. She said that Myanmar did not acknowledge that they were their citizens and therefore could not be considered for repatriation.

Star File Photo

The foreign ministers present brought informal pressure to bear on the Myanmar delegation and the Government of Myanmar accepted the Rohingyas as part of their minority population. As a result the Myanmar Government later sent a delegation to Dhaka and renewed their interest in accepting back in the first instance, a group of 9000 of the remaining 28000. The process of repatriation appears to have re-started.

On the question of demarcation of maritime boundary, Bangladesh had earlier decided to take the matter to the United Nations for arbitration, keeping the option of bilateral talks open. This dual track approach brought the Myanmar authorities to the table and kept the pressure on Yangon to go for an 'equitable' solution instead of a purely 'equidistant' one. Negotiations are on-going and progress is likely. Our Foreign minister also focused on ways to enhance bilateral trade, but the obstacle relating to banking hindered quick progress.

Relations with India, kept the Government engaged for much of the time it devoted to foreign relations. The tone was set when India initially sent its the then foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee to Dhaka to congratulate the Awami League leadership in winning the elections and coming back to power with a massive mandate. Assurances were said to have been received that India was keen to resolve the outstanding issues with Bangladesh.

In fact when the Indian Prime Minister met our Prime minister at the 15th summit of the Non-Aligned Movement at Sharm al Sheikh, Egypt he had clearly mentioned that India would negotiate with Bangladesh all the unresolved matters at a pace to be decided by Bangladesh. The visit of Dr Dipu Moni to Delhi in preparation for the visit of our Prime Minister added impetus to the process. But what changed the 'atmospherics' of the relations was the apprehension and 'handing over' of seven recalcitrant ULFA (Assamese rebel group) leaders to Delhi. Thus both time and circumstances was appropriate for a sustentative visit by our Prime Minister.

The last bilateral visit of 2009 was to Bhutan, the second country that recognized independent Bangladesh. The Prime Minister accorded duty free access of several Bhutanese products to Bangladesh markets. This was a special gesture to her which Bangladesh's neighbours can take note.

The first bilateral visit in 2010 by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was to India for four days beginning January 10. Three security related agreements were signed and two Memorandum of understanding. She was given a warm welcome and also the prestigious Indira Gandhi Peace Prize. The three agreements seemed to meet the immediate needs of India as they will help her contain the various insurgencies in north-east India. One of the two MOU's would secure for Bangladesh additional electricity, which she badly needs. However other issues like sharing the waters of the common rivers especially the Teesta river, completing the demarcation of land boundary, the demarcation of maritime boundary and reducing the imbalance in trade with India were among the issues discussed. The coming months are likely to see greater movement towards their resolution. The visit seems to have built new confidence on each other and is likely to help in moving the relationship forward.

However, the Government seems to be somewhat slow in developing bilateral relations with some of its other traditional friends like China, Japan, UK and the USA. High level visits are in order so that new dimensions of co-operation can be added to the existing bilateral relations. Visit to these countries must be in the Prime Minister's calendar in 2010.

Zobaer Hossain Sikder

Multi-lateral diplomacy
The Prime Minister dived into multi-lateral diplomacy by attending the 64th UN General Assembly in September. Apart from addressing the UN Plenary session in Bangla and requesting the UN Secretary General to consider Bangla as an official UN language, her visit to the UN was used also to confer with 25 other Heads of States and Governments selected by the UN Secretary General to discuss climate change. It is here that she made a deep impression with the other leaders when she explained the consequences of not addressing the carbon issues and how it would affect the most vulnerable countries like Bangladesh due to a rise in the sea level. She sought compensation both for mitigation and adaptation including access to new technology for addressing climate change. Later she attended a high level Food Security Conference there. But her interaction with President Obama of the USA began when she attended a special meeting convened by him to meet the ten largest UN peace keeping nations which included Bangladesh.

It is too early to state what we would see as the final act of the COP-15 meeting on Climate Change held in Copenhagen. The outcome document was just a short statement with no legally binding program. Our Prime Minister was perhaps one of the very few leaders who welcomed the outcome and which was crafted by the leaders of USA and China. The haste with which her appreciation was conveyed to the world press was perhaps because it met Bangladesh immediate concerns. But there are fundamental weaknesses in the content of the document. The Copenhagen Declaration will be subject to closer scrutiny and detailed analysis by all state parties. It would again be negotiated and its very character could be altered during the course of 2010 before the world sits for the next Climate Change Conference in Mexico at the end of the year.

The Prime Minister also attended the Commonwealth summit in Trinidad and Tobago. Here she could meet up with other Heads of States and governments and had the opportunity to play the role of a leader of the fifth largest democracy in the world.

2010 and the next three years
The government now needs to build the foreign affairs team to work closely with the Prime Minister and follow up matters in the remaining four years of her term. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs have seasoned professionals who can take diplomatic initiatives on her behalf and give the prime minister time and space to initiate action on bigger issues like regional integration, peace in South Asia, the pursuit of what is called the Asian Century, issues of globalization affecting LDC's, etc. Bangladesh with a good track record of using diplomacy to match words with ideals can win friends around the world.

The Prime Minister in the first year of her government has laid down the substance and direction of foreign relations. However with her foreign minister she now needs to revamp the Foreign Office and convert it into a modern institution fit to conduct foreign policy for a country of 160 million people. Opening of new missions in Sudan, Sierra Leone, Romania and Poland need to be further examined. Opening in Afghanistan and Brazil are more important at this stage. The process can be phased out, unless we have significant economic opportunities coming our way now. The manning of the missions abroad must be carefully planned. We understand that the Prime Minister sometimes seeks out persons who need to be rewarded for their past loyalty to her cause with ambassadorial assignments. But because of her fast moving diplomatic steps, she has to use the best available talent both from inside and outside the cadre. The mediocre would not do for the country any more. We need diplomats who are well conversant with issues, are the best of negotiators and have the ability to project the best image of Bangladesh to the world.

The world is hurtling ahead at breakneck speed. The countries in our immediate neighborhood like India, China and the ASEAN countries are projecting power and influence to obtain their legitimate claims. Sometimes they get involved with far off powers to establish their interests nearer to home. Although we in Bangladesh are not in this power play, but we could unwittingly be sucked into this. Keeping our feet firmly where our interests are, we would need to promote our objectives abroad.

In 2009, this Government has made a quiet beginning. It has just shown our flag. From 2010, it has to start flying it too.

The author is the Chairman of the Centre for Foreign Affairs Studies.

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