The relationship between the US and Bangladesh has been a good one for the past 52 years, so President Biden and Secretary Blinken want to strengthen it even further.

For this, the US has sent teams to Bangladesh to explore ways for this. Currently, the two work together for a smooth partnership. For the best possible results, the government of Bangladesh demands free and fair elections.

Bangladesh is also trying to establish rule of law, that is, no one is above law and it abrogated the infamous “indemnity laws” in order to strengthen ‘rule of law’ and good governance; it requested the US government to handover fugitive killer of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Mr. Rashed Chowdhury to Bangladesh. Since USA is committed to rule law, hopefully they will prove their commitment by deporting him to Bangladesh soon.

Unfortunately, there is a wrong perception among few US lawmakers and officials regarding Bangladesh. They believe that Bangladesh is moving towards the Chinese debt-trap as a few Chinese companies are engaged in constructing a few mega projects in Bangladesh.

Since the Chinese companies were lowest in price in submitting international public tenders, they got the job. For example, they got the job of constructing the railway line over the Padma Bridge. Bangladesh government is constructing it with its own money, but engaged a Chinese company to do the job.

The same is the case with the Bangabandhu Tunnel in Chittagong. Unfortunately, nobody mentions about Japan, South Korea or India who are also involved in constructing projects in Bangladesh. Japan is constructing the 3rdterminal of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport and also the Dhaka Metro Rail Project plus constructing a few dedicated highways and byways.

Till to-date, as a single country, Bangladesh borrowed maximum from Japan and JICA. No other country can match them. Bangladesh is very prudent in borrowing. Its total foreign debt to GDP is around 13.78%, and as per IMF, if a country’s foreign borrowing is over 55%, then there is a possibility of debt-trap. Bangladesh borrowed maximum loans from the international agencies like the WB, ADB, IMF etc. amounting to 61%.

It borrowed 17% from a single country and it is Japan. In fact, the total loan received from China is around 4.0 billion, which is less than 1% of its GDP. Till today American investment in Bangladesh is the highest and it is around 21%, followed by Japan, South Korea, UK, Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia. Recently many more countries showed interest to investment in Bangladesh and among them Saudi Arabia, UAE, India, Qatar, Australia and China are major ones.
A few countries namely the USA, India, Japan, Australia and EU countries are trying to contain the rise and spread of China.

“Friendship to all, malice towards none”

Since Bangladesh is very strategically located, in between China and India, and it maintain a very balanced and non-aligned foreign policy. The cardinal principle of its foreign policy is“friendship to all, malice towards none” , and it was laid down by Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

Recently Bangladesh announced its Indo-Pacific Outlook in which it proposes to have open, free, secure, inclusive, and rules-based navigation for all. Both India and Japan have similar views.

Bangladesh maintains absolute religious harmony and tolerance, and it has thousands of media, and its press is very vibrant and free. The population size of Bangladesh is half of that of USA, yet it has almost equal number of dailies in Bangladesh, and its media and social media are hyperactive. Bangladesh is the most densely populated country in the world (3,300 people per square miles) and is a Least Developed (LDC) country; yet its labor force maintains a comfortable life, much better vis-à-vis that of other LDCs.

When the UN Special Rapporteur reported that few NGOs of Bangladesh claimed that 76 people were kidnapped or subjected to enforced disappearance in Bangladesh. The government took it seriously.

On investigation it was found that out of these 76 persons, 8 are living in their own homes with their families, two are Indian nationals living in their own country, and 28 are absconding from justice. Unfortunately, police don’t have any complaints from the rest of 38 persons. Neither the Civil Society nor the Human Rights organizations could provide any information about the rest.

When their contacts of the family members were asked to submit more detail information, they failed to do it. Instead, they claimed that the government is harassing them. Therefore, police have stopped going to their homes, and instead, it sent them letters with a request to submit more details about their whereabouts at the time of missing. Read more HERE