Foreign minister's letter to envoys to tackle diplomatic challenges

After winning the 7 January election, the Awami League government has pointed to politics, economy and diplomacy as the three main challenges to be tackled. The first cabinet meeting of this government was held on 15 January. At the meeting, the prime minister Sheikh Hasina placed stress on establishing good governance, diversifying exports, attracting investment, exporting skilled manpower, resolving the Rohingya crisis by means of repatriation and increasing the remittance flow. In light of this, foreign minister Hasan Mahmud has highlighted 9 issues for Bangladesh's ambassadors abroad to pay due attention to when facing the diplomatic challenges.

Officials of the foreign ministry told Prothom Alo that the foreign minister highlighted these directives in letters sent to Bangladesh's ambassadors abroad. Speaking to a number of ambassadors concerning the letter sent by the foreign minister, it was learnt that at the outset of the nine directives, the issue of post-election diplomacy was highlighted. It was said that the basic policy of 'Friendship towards all, malice towards none' was taking Bangladesh's foreign relations ahead. Mentioning that various countries may have various views and feelings due to the geopolitical importance of Bangladesh, and the government will work on strengthening existing ties of friendship with countries of both the East and West, taking into consideration those views and valid recommendations.

The next challenges to be taken up are strengthening economic diplomacy, expanding the commodities and overseas employment, searching for alternative sources of import, attracting investment, integrated diplomatic efforts for Rohingya repatriation, organising trade-related events, public diplomacy, other global issues and a balance of workforce and budget.

At the end of the letter directing the ambassadors to tackle the various challenges, the foreign minister praised the foreign ministry for keeping up with the global changes in order to strengthen bilateral and multilateral diplomatic ties.

When asked about the matter, foreign minister Hasan Mahmud told Prothom Alo on 28 March, Bangladesh's missions have an important role. "I have sent a letter recently to Bangladesh ambassadors to tackle the diplomatic challenges", he said.

According to diplomatic experts and analysts of international relations, the last two of the three challenges, that is economy and diplomacy, are directly interrelated. In contemporary times, diplomacy has crossed the ambit of politics and now centres on geopolitics and geo-economy. And the main destination of Bangladesh's economy is the US and other western countries. And so the government's economic and diplomatic challenges are interrelated. It is certainly a large challenge before the government to settle the differences with the major countries of the West over the issue of good governance and to take economic interests ahead.

Officials of the foreign ministry have said the letter issued to the ambassadors speaks of displaying a positive attitude and taking relations ahead with various countries and blocs which have differences with the government or have voiced concerns.

While this is the first time that Hasan Mahmud has taken office as foreign minister, he had initially served as state minister for foreign affairs in 2009 when Awami League came to power. This time on the first day that he took over as foreign minister, he first held a meeting with secretaries of the ministry and other senior officials.

Certain diplomats who had been present at that meeting held on 14 January, told this correspondent that the foreign minister had been briefed about the overall picture of the next five years. Based on the election manifesto of the Awami League government, the picture of Bangladesh's international relations challenges for the next five years from 2024 to 2029 was highlighted, along with the challenges to be faced.

Pointing to the possible diplomatic challenges ahead of the foreign ministry in the coming days, the concerned officials said, the major challenges before the government are bridging the gap with foreign countries on the issues of the overall economic crisis, human rights, labour rights and democracy, ensuring that the country does not lean to any one side in light of the geopolitical and geo-economic tensions, establishing strategic partnership by means of security and defence cooperation, resolving the Rohingya crisis, particularly making a strong effort for repatriation and getting international support to this end.

When asked about the economic challenges, a diplomat said the big challenge for the government in the coming days is increasing trade and commerce and attracting investment. From this year the government will have to start repaying major partners like China and Russia for the mega development projects. The matter of replaying the loans has coincidentally come up at such a time when Bangladesh is suffering from the impact of the global economy. Assistance from development partners and friendly countries has become imperative for Bangladesh to tackle the dollar crisis. And concerns regarding good governance and labour rights must be assuaged in order to attract investment.

Human rights, particularly freedom of expression and civic rights, and labour rights, are being seen as the challenges of the coming days. When asked about the matter, a diplomat said human rights will be considered a major aspect in trade, commerce and investment and cooperation in various sectors with the developed world. This calls for the challenge of establishing positive links with the western countries which have concerns about human rights and good governance.

Several officials pointed to the geopolitical and geo-economic importance of Bangladesh in recent times. They feel that there had been thoughts that the US would impose visa and trade sanctions centering the 12th parliamentary polls which BNP has boycotted. But that did not transpire. Again, three important quarters of the West have not changed their stance towards the one-sided election. The US, UK and EU in particular have made their disappointment clear. So work needs to be done to eliminate their misgivings concerning democracy and good governance. This is part of the nine directives issued by the foreign minister in this letter to the envoys.