Foreign policy under the Caretaker Government

Abdul Hannan

Barring the splash in the pan by the newly constituted Centre for Foreign Affairs Study, a brain child of a few retired ambassadors, it seems no serious attention has been given to performance in our diplomacy to implement and fulfil foreign policy goals and objectives anchored on firm imperatives of security concerns and economic interests. Yet, discerning watchers of Foreign Office cannot fail to notice a distinct change of style and substance in the conduct of foreign policy. It is only appropriate we make a dispassionate and objective appraisal of its performance.
   It is for the first time in 15 years that the Foreign Office seems to be in charge with a sense of direction and purpose. It is an open secret that previously all major foreign policy decisions, regardless of advice of the Foreign Office, were taken by an oligarchy in the prime minister's office. The foreign office only played a second fiddle. Examples abound. The failed candidature for the post of secretary general of OIC by Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury was a non-starter. Bangladesh failed, disregarding Foreign Office advice, to nominate any Bangladesh candidate for the post of UN secretary general from Asia. Yet, at least two outstanding Bangladeshi diplomats of impeccable credentials were available as formidable candidates. One was Dr. Iftekher Ahmed Chowdhury, who had the advantage of serving as Bangladesh Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the UN both in New York and Geneva for long 10 years and the other one was Anwarul Karim chowdhury, UN under secretary general and our former Ambassador in New York UN Mission. It was a missed opportunity. The last minute denial of a meeting by a visiting French Deputy foreign minister with Prime Minister Khaleda Zia was a matter of deep frustration to the French embassy. Our One China policy notwithstanding, there was a diplomatic row with China over a trade mission of Taiwan in Dhaka without consultation with China. The Foreign Office pleaded ignorant about the centre.
   The return of its rightful authority to the foreign ministry has been possible because it is now run by professionalism headed by a career diplomat after a long time. The Foreign Office, to start with, had no illusion about the challenges it faced in winning support and confidence of the international community about the credibility and legitimacy of the Army-backed Caretaker Government (CG). It started explaining the circumstances of emergency rule in the country under a CG working beyond its normal tenure of three moths in order to be able to carry out necessary institutional reforms with a view to transferring power to honest and competent elected representatives through a free, fair and impartial national election at the end of December. Abandoning the hitherto laidback, lacklustre, timid and reactive diplomacy, the government embarked upon a campaign of assertive, robust and proactive foreign policy initiatives.
   Faced with increasing interference by resident foreign diplomats in our internal matters, the Foreign Office issued a veiled warning not to transgress Vienna convention about diplomatic norms and etiquette. Soon after taking over, the government sent out Faruq Sobhan, a former foreign secretary and an astute diplomat as a special emissary of chief adviser Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed to Washington to brief high officials of the Sate Department about the policies and programmes of the present CG. The way America came to our help immediately after the cyclone Sidre is a reflection of their trust and confidence in the government. The Foreign Office wrote to 435 US Congressman to approve the bill titled New Partnership of Development Act of 2007 in the US Congress for the duty free market access of garments and textile products of LDCs to US market.
   It was thoughtful of government to hoist half mast the national flag as a token of sympathy and sorrow for the devastating earth quake in China. Reciprocating the gesture, the Chinese foreign minister Yang Jiechi visited Bangladesh in April last year and declared 60 million yuan as out right grant, construction of an exhibition centre in Bangladesh and showed interest of its involvement in the construction of Rooppur nuclear plant. Japan offered a loan of US$291 million for Bangladesh railway, power and water resources following foreign adviser Dr Iftekher Ahmed chowdhury's visit to Japan. The Chief Adviser after addressing the UN General Assembly meeting stopped over in London and held talks with Prime Minister Gordon Brown. The visits of British foreign minister David Milband and the British development minister and EU delegations last year was indicative of their interest about Bangladesh.
   Our relation with India, by all indications, was sour during five years BNP-led coalition government on account of not infrequent harsh accusing fingers by government leaders about India. Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's India visit held at the fag end of her tenure predictably was a flop. The present CG, despite festering unresolved issues of demarcation of border and maritime boundary, frequent border incidents of conflict, sharing of common rivers water and gaping adverse balance of trade with India, took a pragmatic attitude of mending fences by normalising friendly relation with India, our largest neighbour. On the sidelines of SAARC summit in Delhi last year, the chief adviser and the foreign adviser held fruitful talks on entire range of bilateral matters with their counter parts Dr Mon Mohan Singh and Pranab Mukherjee. Both sides agreed to reactivate the existing institutional frameworks to resolve bilateral issues. These contacts and dialogues slowly but imperceptibly help confidence building and conflict resolution.
   The foreign Ministry coordinated the whole process of mobilizing international relief assistance by contacting different donor countries after two rounds of floods and cyclone Sidre and so far approximately $650 million dollars of relief assistance including pledges have been received. The World Bank offered up to $250 million assistance to meet immediate and long term needs in the wake of the cyclone. An amount of 36 crore taka was also collected from expatriate Bangladeshis through Bangladesh missions abroad. In view of food scarcity and soaring price of food affecting the poor globally, the chief adviser wrote to the UN secretary general to make urgent international efforts to arrange food security. Responding to his letter, the SG Bun Ki Moon constituted a UN High Panel on Food Security.
   In pursuit of its 'Look East' policy, Bangladesh participated for the first time in the ASEAN Forum ministerial meeting in Manila and is expecting to become a dialogue partner of ASEAN soon. As a part of economic diplomacy, the chief adviser participated for the first time in the World Economic Forum at Davos in Switzerland and explained the attractive investment atmosphere in Bangladesh to the participating businessman and international investors. Bangladesh was elected chairman of the LDC Coordinating Bureau in New York in September 2007 and has since remained active in all multilateral fora including World Trade Organization talks in Geneva and with G 8 leaders and voiced appeal to allow temporary movement of workers across borders to offer job opportunities.
   The success of diplomacy is a reflection of the success of domestic policy and performance of the government. The caretaker government firmly dealt with Islamic terrorists in the country and took legal action against corrupt officials, Law makers and businessmen. By signing the international convention for suppression of acts of nuclear terrorism last year, Bangladesh became a state party to all the thirteen conventions to eradicate terrorism. Bangladesh also acceded to the UN Convention against corruption. These measures together with governments institutional reforms and improvement of rule of law were very reassuring to the outside world and contributed to enhance the perception of international community about Bangladesh as a responsible actor in international affairs in an increasingly inter dependent world, contrary to past perception about the country as a failed state suffering from serious governance problem.
   Abdul Hannan is a former civil servant and freelance contributor to the Holiday and other newspapers.

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Special Correspondent

Poor indoor air quality due to the traditional cooking practices create high risk and directly affect the lactating and young children along with the mother, reveals the Bangladesh Country Environmental Analysis (CEA) done jointly by the World Bank and the key Government of Bangladesh (GOB) counterparts including the Department of Environment and Forest (MOEF).
   The CEA findings and the current epidemiological understanding suggest that a major portion of premature deaths specifically of the under five children is attributable to indoor air pollution, after water borne and sanitation related disease in Bangladesh. These risk assessments are currently ranked as an environmental health priority, which if addressed will significantly strengthen Bangladesh's efforts to reach the health-related MDG targets.
   To address these challenges, the World Bank and the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) just completed the Bangladesh Indoor Air Pollution Reduction Pilot (Phase-I) which involved a set of knowledge gathering and awareness raising activities. A concept note on the framework for a pilot initiative on rural household energy interventions and indoor air pollution reduction has been prepared based on the findings of the first phase of the work that considers proven and effective models of rural energy dissemination in Bangladesh and abroad.
   To make the rural household energy program in Bangladesh sustainable, a market-driven model is needed that allows for the growth of entrepreneurs and micro-enterprises on improved cook-stoves and biogas through intensive training and capacity building and micro-credit assistance. The Union Parishads and community-based organizations need to be involved to facilitate such programs.
   To pilot the program (Phase-II) from concept stage, a counterpart agency with hands on experience on market based approach and other relevant expertise is needed to take the work forward. The World Bank team engaged in discussions with Infrastructure Development Company Limited (IDCOL) to determine their interest in partnering in this proposed initiative as they have the proven track record of implementing renewable energy projects on commercial approaches.
   The proposed grant-funded Phase-II activity, if agreed between GoB and Bank, would support technical advisory services in the areas of community awareness, assessments, training, commercial delivery mechanisms through entrepreneurs and micro-enterprises, monitoring and quality assurance, financial options, and exploring carbon finance linkages. On successful outcomes of the Phase-II Pilot initiative and potential for scaling up, a larger project with IDA assistance may be envisioned.

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Nasreen Fatema Awal appointed Honorary Consul of Mongolia in Bangladesh

Mrs. Nasreen Fatema Awal has been appointed as Honorary Consul of Mongolia in Bangladesh. A renowned Women Entrepreneur of the country Ms. Nasreen Fatema Awal is the Founder President of Women Entrepreneurs Association of Bangladesh (WEAB), Managing Director of MF Consumers Ltd., Joongbo Multimode Chemicals Ltd. And Director of Multimode Group. She is the former President of SAARC Chamber Women Entrepreneurs Council and former Director of FBCCI. Mrs. Nasreen Fatema Awal is the wife of former FBCCI President, renowned businessman, industrialist, founder and CEO of Multimode Group Abdul Awal Mintoo. Recently Mrs. Nasreen Fatema Awal has become CIP for her contribution towards development of women entrepreneurship, trade-commerce and industry of the country.

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