'Canada and Bangladesh's futures are interlinked'

One third of the global population is in the Indo-Pacific region. Half of the global GDP will be in this region by 2040. And the Indo-Pacific strategy is all about the global collaborative effort required in this interconnected world.

These observations were made yesterday, Thursday, at a roundtable on 'Canada's Indo-Pacific Strategy: A New Horizon of Opportunity' held at The Westin Dhaka in the capital. The roundtable was organised by Bangladesh Institute of Peace and Security Studies (BIPSS).

In the opening remarks at the event, High Commissioner for Canada in Bangladesh, Lilly Nicholls, said that Canada's Indo-Pacific Strategy was one of the most important components of its foreign policy in decades. It was a recognition of Canada as a Pacific nation.

Referring to the strategy in relation to Bangladesh, she said, "Canada's Indo-Pacific strategy recognises that our futures are interlinked. It is an extremely comprehensive strategy of which a key pillar is peace and strategy. And Bangladesh is at the core of the Indo-Pacific."

High commissioner Nicholls said that Bangladesh was increasingly becoming an important player in the region, adding, "It cannot simply have a million refugees. We need to work on the Rohingya refugee crisis. We must work together for a solution because other crises tend to distract attention from this issue."

She went on to say that from a Canadian perspective, Bangladesh was a key peacekeeper. It was the largest provider of peacekeepers. Both Bangladesh and Canada were active in this area and want to continue in this.

The high commissioner pointed to the strong ties between the two countries over the last 50 years. It started with food aid in the seventies and now the two countries have two-way trade amounting to around 3 billion dollars. "The challenge now is to diversify and increase investment to other sectors such as IT, pharmaceuticals, green industries, and continue with readymade garments as well." In its initiative to promote further trade, Canada was to appoint a trade envoy in the region.

"Bangladesh and Canada are both extremely vulnerable to climate change," Lilly Nicholls continued, pointing out that Canada was contributing 5.2 billion dollars globally as assistance for climate change and countries like Bangladesh required this support for climate change solutions.

She stressed the importance of people-to-people ties, saying that presently 10,000 students from Bangladesh were going to Canada every year.

She said that a vital pillar for the Canadian Indo-Pacific Strategy was creating active engagement and multifaceted linkages in the region.

In his welcome remarks at the start of the roundtable, Major General ANM Muniruzzaman (retd), president of BIPSS, said that the rise of the Indo-Pacific region presented a new geostrategic construct. The region covered 4 billion people and a massive economy.

The three pillars of the Indo-Pacific strategy were security, prosperity and diplomacy. Canada was committed to this in its strategy. It promoted peace, stability and a rules-based order. It had expanding economic ties in the region. And it also had strong relationships with the countries of the region.

“Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy represents its commitment to engage with the diverse region,” said the BIPSS president. He did point out, however, that a complete region of Africa had been left out of the strategy and undue importance seems to have been given to the centrality of ASEAN. He also highlighted the need of more security cooperation, not restricted to Southeast Asia, but with the rest of the region.  

He pointed to China’s duality in its “hedge and engage” dealings with other countries.

Md Touhid Hossain, former foreign secretary, said that Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy looked forward to a peaceful and prosperous region. The three important aspects of the strategy involved economy, peace and security, and environment.

He said that China was important in all three areas and it was relevant to recognise the growing dependence on China in the global supply chain. China had spoken of the rules-based order but was now restructuring it. Strategists need to be alert. He highlighted the importance of values, saying that if we think in terms of long-term interests, sticking to values will pay in the long run.

“The present trajectory will make China dominant in the long region, if not the world. As a dominant power, China will not be democratic in the western sense, nor will it bother about human rights,” said the former foreign secretary.

Talking about the strategies of other countries, he said the US Indo-Pacific Strategy has a clear priority of containing China. Bangladesh’s Indo-Pacific Outline was generic, all in general terms. Then again, he added, it has compulsions to take a neutral stand. Bangladesh has a large population and consistent economic growth. It can play an important role in the region.

He also referred to the Rohingya issue, saying that the Canadian government does mention the rising violence in Myanmar. “There can be no peace without justice,” he said, pointing out that China’s access to the Bay of Bengal was through Myanmar and so it would not stand by the side of the Rohingyas.  

Parvez Karim Abbasi, assistant professor of the department of economics at East West University, said, “Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy signals to the world an end to strategic ambiguity. It is clear about where it will stand in the ‘New Cold War’.”

Speaking of relations between Bangladesh and Canada, he said that Bangladesh had long been tapping into Canada’s international development fund as was seen also with the support given to BRAC, Grameen and other stakeholders in development.

Canada is also a champion of green energy and sustainable development said Parvez Karim Abbasi, adding that this was meaningful for Bangladesh when it came to turning from coal energy to clean energy.

And with China imposing a ban on Canola oil, Bangladesh could import this from Canada in place of soybean oil, he said.

“Canada wants to engage in building greater transparency and claims to be promoting transparency,” said Abbasi, but, he added, black money was being siphoned off from Bangladesh to be invested in Canada. He said, “It is our fault too and Canada should also be alert. Canada should stop acting as a ‘laundromat’ for black money.”

After the presentations of the panelists, the floor was opened for a lively interaction by the participants. The event was attended by foreign diplomats and officials, retired civil and military bureaucrats, academics, media persons and others.