Bangladesh needs to readjust foreign policy to new Asian era: Foreign Adviser

Dhaka 27 April 2008

"There is a new Asian era beginning, and Bangladesh needs to adjust her foreign policy to these new circumstances", said Dr. Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, Foreign Adviser, speaking to the media today.

"We have remained linked too long to the metropolitan powers of the former colonial age, and may be so long our interests also demanded that. But the times are rapidly changing. Asia is forging ahead at an unprecedented speed. Our policies need to be realigned to these global changes, or we will lag behind", he said.

"We must break out of the clap-trap of donor-recipient relationship which is a legacy of the past. Perhaps we do not realize there is more reverse transfer of resources to those developed countries who buy from us. We pay many times more in duties to them, than we receive in aid. Our efforts for easier market access will and must continue, but the system is unfairly skewed against us", he further observed.

"On the other hand, it is the booming economies of Asia that might help shape our future. The power players of contemporary times are China, Japan, South Korea, ASEAN, India, and the Gulf States. We must be vigorous in strengthening our linkages with these actors, and this government has already begun the process, which governments in the future will hopefully continue", Dr. Iftekhar Chowdhury said.

"These countries can help build our infrastructures and invest in our agriculture and industry. Our contractual manpower exports go mainly to these countries from whom we earn huge amounts in remittances. Our food shortages can only be made up by procurements largely from these nations. Our cultural heritage, our linguistic predilections, and the great religion of Islam will assist this process", the Foreign Adviser went on to say.

The Foreign Adviser further stated: "There is a famous poem of Tagore where he says he had traveled far and wide and yet was unable to appreciate the beauty of a dew-drop on a single grain in his own backyard. Our policies run the risk of the same experience. If we can cooperate with one another in a new concept of an Asian Home we will be able to fly together like the formation of a flock of birds towards a new horizon of hope and prosperity".

"Of course, relations with the West will remain important. We must continue to cultivate the US and Western Europe. But Russia, Central, South and South East Asia, Middle and the Far East are opening up new possibilities. I think our people, our media, our intelligentsia, and our common man and woman already see this. In a spirit of democracy our governments have no option but to follow the citizens' lead", Dr. Iftekhar Chowdhury concluded.