Foreign relations of Bangladesh

Commonwealth of Nations

Bangladesh, which was part of British India until 1947, joined the Commonwealth of Nations in 1972 after its establishment as an independent nation in 1971. It has actively participated in the Heads of Government conferences that take place bi-annually.

United Nations

Bangladesh was admitted to the United Nations in 1974 and was elected to a Security Council term in 1978–1980 and again for a 2000–02 term. Foreign Minister Mr. Humayun Rasheed Choudhury served as president of the 41st UN General Assembly in 1986.

In recent years, Bangladesh has played a significant role in international peacekeeping activities. Nearly 10,000 Bangladeshi military personnel are deployed overseas on peacekeeping operations, making it a large contributor to the UN peacekeeping forces. Under UN auspices, Bangladeshi troops have served or are serving in Somalia, Rwanda, Mozambique, Kuwait, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Haiti, and units are currently serving in Kuwait and East Timor. Bangladesh responded quickly to US President Bill Clinton's 1994 request for troops and police for the multinational force for Haiti and provided the largest non-US contingent. As of December 2012, Bangladesh is the largest provider of UN peacekeepers.

Non-Aligned Movement

Bangladesh was selected to provide the next chairman of NAM at the summit scheduled for Dhaka 2001, however it was later decided to host the summit at an alternative venue. As a member of the Non-aligned Movement Bangladesh never took any position in line with big powers. However it parted with its principle by voting at the United Nations against North Korea, under pressure from Japan, in December 2008.

Organisation of Islamic Cooperation

See also OIC role in Pakistan-Bangladesh relationship

In 1974, then Prime minister Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, lead a Bangladeshi delegation team consisting Kamal Hossain, Enayet Karim, Ataur Rahman Khan, Taheruddin Thakur, Tofail Ahmed and Shah Azizur Rahman under him, to the international meeting of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC, now the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation) held in Lahore. Following this participation Bangladesh was admitted as a member of OIC. In 1977, President Ziaur Rahman amended the Constitution of Bangladesh, including a clause stating that " the state shall endeavour to consolidate, preserve and strengthen fraternal relations among Muslim countries based on Islamic solidarity ". Since then, an explicit goal of Bangladeshi foreign policy has been to seek close relations with other Islamic states. In 1980, President Ziaur Rahman was included in a 3-member "Al-Quds" summit committee to attend the summit at Morocco. In 1983, Bangladesh hosted in capital Dhaka the foreign ministers meeting of the OIC. At the OIC headquarters at Jeddah, Bangladesh is represented in the capacity of one of the Director Generals.

South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation

The government also pursued the expansion of co-operation among the nations of South Asia, bringing the process—an initiative of former President Ziaur Rahman—through its earliest, most tentative stages to the formal inauguration of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) at a summit gathering of South Asian leaders in Dhaka in December 1985. Bangladesh has served in the chairmanship of SAARC and has participated in a wide range of ongoing SAARC regional activities

Bay of Bengal Initiative for MultiSectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation

An international organisation which includes South Asian and Southeast Asian nations. The member nations of this group are: Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal. The organisation focuses on regional economy, regional development and trade & investment.

Developing 8 Countries

Bangladesh along with the seven other nations are all original members and no plans for expansions have been made. The Developing 8 is an economic development alliance consisting of Muslim majority states which focuses in multiple areas which are rural development, science and technology, banking, agriculture, humanitarian development, energy, environment, health and finance. On 14 May 2006 in Bali, Indonesia, Bangladesh was the only nation not to sign a preferential trade agreement.

Asia Pacific Trade Agreement

The Asia-Pacific Trade Agreement (APTA), formerly known as the Bangkok Agreement, was signed in 1975 under one of the major initiatives taken by United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP). Six Participating States- Bangladesh, China, India, Lao PDR, South Korea, and Sri Lanka are the parties to the APTA. In 2005, Bangladesh signed the APTA agreement which would enable it to reduce trade gaps between itself and other nations such as China, South Korea and its neighbour India. The APTA pact does occupy market for 2921.2 million people and the size of this big market accounts US$14615.86 billion in terms of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2015–2016. APTA’s key objective is to hasten economic development among the six participating states opting trade and investment liberalisation measures that will contribute to intra-regional trade and economic strengthening through the coverage of merchandise goods and services, synchronised investment regime and free flow of technology transfer making all the Participating States to be in equally winsome situation (Latifee, E. H., 2016).Another aspect of the agreement is to be given duty-free access to its products.

World Trade Organization

Bangladesh is an active member of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Bangladesh has a permanent mission in Geneva to look after matters relating to multilateral trading system under the WTO regime since the mid-1990s.

World Customs Organization

Bangladesh is an active member of the World Customs Organization (WCO). Bangladesh has a permanent representative to WCO which has its headquarters in Brussels.

Like Minded Group

Bangladesh have formed an alliance with nineteen other developing countries to vote as a bloc in organisations such as the WTO and the United Nations.

Other

Bangladesh is currently chairman of the Developing 8 Countries. The government has participated in numerous international conferences, especially those dealing with population, food, development, and women's issues. In 1982–83, Bangladesh played a constructive role as chairman of the "Group of 77", an informal association encompassing most of the world's developing nations. It has taken a leading role in the "Group of 48" developing countries. Bangladesh also participates in these international organisations: ARF, AsDB, BIMSTEC, CP, FAO, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICCt (signatory), ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITU, ITUC, MIGA, MINURSO, MONUC, SACEP, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNMEE, UNMIL, UNMIS, UNOCI, UNOMIG, UNWTO, UPU, WCL, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO, OPCW.

Bilateral relations

Bangladesh have established official diplomatic relations with most of the members of United Nations as well as some non-UN members like Palestine. Relations with these nations are largely cordial except for some bilateral disputes with Pakistan and Burma. Issue with India stem from teesta and other river water sharing. Bangladesh puts deep emphasis on relations with China and the United States as China is the largest military supplier to Bangladesh while United States is one of the largest export markets for Bangladeshi products. In recent years, the relations with Russia also became influential because of the Russian loan and technical assistance on military modernisation and the first ever nuclear power plant project of Bangladesh. The bilateral relations of Bangladesh are mainly based on trade activities. However, with certain countries, the relations expand to other areas such as military co-operation, cultural exchange etc.

South Asia

Bangladesh maintains friendly relations with Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka and also India, although there was a border dispute, but with that solved relations between Bangladesh and India are becoming much closer. It strongly opposed the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Bangladesh and Nepal recently agreed to facilitate land transit between the two countries.

Western Asia (Middle East)

During the Bangladesh Liberation War, the majority of conservative Arab nations were against Bangladeshi liberation because India- a non-Muslim nation was supporting break up of a Muslim country (Pakistan).Non-Arab Muslim nations such as Indonesia and Turkey established relations quickly. In the present, Bangladesh maintains relations to the Middle East through many areas such as commerce, history, military and most importantly religious ties which enabled the two to co-operate more easily then compared to their Western or Far Eastern partners. Bangladesh supplies over 1 million guest workers to Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and other Gulf countries. In turn most of Bangladesh's oil is imported from this region. Islamic countries and charities provide economic aid usually to advance the Islamic agenda, including funding mosques and madrassas.

During the Yom Kippur War, Bangladesh supported the Arabs and Palestinians and sent a medical team and relief supply which was appreciated. In return they enabled Bangladesh to become a member of NAM at the Algiers Summit in 1973 and pressured Pakistan into recognising Bangladesh to get Mujib to go to the 1974 OIC Summit in Lahore, as he stated that was his only condition.

Bangladesh also took active part in trying to broker a ceasefire between Iran and Iraq during their eight-year war as a member of the United Nations Security Council and participating in the UNIIMOG mission which they became Acting Head of in the last few years before withdrawal. It later helped them to be elected into the OIC Peace Committee.

Bangladesh strongly opposed the Israeli bombardment of South Lebanon which killed approximately 1,191 civilians and described it as "State Terrorism" and a double standard conflict going into detail that a non-western nation would have been labelled a terrorist and a western nation would have never been deemed a terrorist. They also contributed to the peacekeeping effort after the 2006 Lebanon War by sending in battalions of infantry.

Africa

Bangladesh's presence in Africa is mostly due to their large contribution to the peacekeeping forces present around the continent such as Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Sudan (Darfur) and Somalia. Bangladesh can foster ties based on its history such as nations in Southeast Africa where there is a South Asian population (whose ancestors immigrated there during the British Empire). In countries such as Ivory Coast and Sierra Leone, Bangladeshi peacekeepers have been honoured. It is currently trying to increase ties with the southern economic bloc in Southern Africa with nations such as Zimbabwe.

Europe

European countries, particularly from Scandinavia, provide significant economic assistance to Bangladesh.

Bangladesh's relations with the European Union and its member states remained a priority area in the foreign policy context. A number of achievements were made in the economic field during that brief period. At present EU is the top export destination of Bangladesh's products (48% of the total product). The International Jute Study Group—which comprises the EU, Bangladesh, and India—is established in Dhaka. Bangladesh successfully participated in World Apparel Fair, European Seafood Exposition, Bangladesh Trade Show in Moscow and Kiev.

India

Pakistan

Myanmar

Allies

Bangladesh has long friendly relations with India, China, Japan, Russia, United States, Malaysia, and South Korea.

Bangladesh had a border dispute with India and that got solved recently as both countries agreed to co-operate more and maintain friendly ties.