| Bangladesh
pursues a moderate foreign policy that places heavy
reliance on multinational diplomacy, especially at the
United Nations.
Participation
in Multilateral Organizations
Bangladesh was admitted to the United Nations in 1974 and
was elected to a Security Council term in 1978 and again
for a 2000-2002 term. Foreign Minister Choudhury served as
president of the 41st UN General Assembly in 1986.
Bangladesh is slated to become the next chairman of NAM at
the summit scheduled for Dhaka 2001. Bangladesh is
currently chairman of the Group of 8 Developing 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. In
1983, Bangladesh hosted the foreign ministers meeting of
the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). It has
taken a leading role in the "Group of 48"
developing countries.
Since 1975, Bangladesh has sought close relations with
other Islamic states and a prominent role among moderate
members of the OIC. The government also pursued the
expansion of cooperation 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 Asia 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.
In recent years, Bangladesh has played a significant role
in international peacekeeping activities. Several thousand
Bangladeshi military personnel are deployed overseas on
peacekeeping operations. Under UN auspices, Bangladeshi
troops have served or are serving in Somalia, Rwanda,
Mozambique, Kuwait, Bosnia, and Haiti, and units are
currently serving in Kuwait and East Timor. Bangladesh
responded quickly to President Clinton's 1994 request for
troops and police for the multinational force for Haiti
and provided the largest non-U.S. contingent.
Bilateral
Relations with Other Nations
Bangladesh is bordered on the west, north, and east by a
2,400-kilometer land frontier with India, and on the
southeast by a land and water frontier (193 kilometers)
with Burma.
India. India
is Bangladesh's most important neighbor. Geographic,
cultural, historic, and commercial ties are strong, and
both countries recognize the importance of good relations.
During and immediately after Bangladesh's struggle for
independence from Pakistan in 1971, India assisted
refugees from East Pakistan, intervened militarily to help
bring about the independence of Bangladesh, and furnished
relief and reconstruction aid.
Indo-Bangladesh relations are often strained, and many
Bangladeshis feel India likes to play "big
brother" to smaller neighbors, including Bangladesh.
Bilateral relations warmed in 1996, due to a softer Indian
foreign policy and the new Awami League Government. A
30-year water-sharing agreement for the Ganges River was
signed in December 1996, after an earlier bilateral
water-sharing agreement for the Ganges River lapsed in
1988. Both nations also have cooperated on the issue of
flood warning and preparedness. The government and tribal
insurgents signed a peace accord in December 1997, which
allowed for the return of tribal refugees who had fled
into India, beginning in 1986, to escape violence caused
by an insurgency in their homeland in the Chittagong Hill
Tracts. The implementation of all parts of this agreement
have stalled, and the army maintains a very strong
presence in the area. The army is increasingly concerned
about a growing problem of cultivation of illegal drugs.
Pakistan.
Bangladesh enjoys warm relations with Pakistan, despite
the strained early days of their relationship. Landmarks
in their reconciliation are:
- An August
1973 agreement between Bangladesh and Pakistan on the
repatriation of numerous individuals, including 90,000
Pakistani prisoners of war stranded in Bangladesh as a
result of the 1971 conflict;
- A February
1974 accord by Bangladesh and Pakistan on mutual
recognition, followed more than 2 years later by
establishment of formal diplomatic relations;
- The
organization by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR) of an airlift that moved almost 250,000
Bengalis from Pakistan to Bangladesh, and non-Bengalis
from Bangladesh to Pakistan; and
- Exchanges
of high-level visits, including a visit by Prime
Minister Benazir Bhutto to Bangladesh in 1989 and
visits by Prime Minister Zia to Pakistan in 1992 and
in 1995.
Still to be resolved are the division of assets from the
pre-1971 period and the status of more than 250,000
non-Bengali Muslims (known as "Biharis")
remaining in Bangladesh but seeking resettlement in
Pakistan.
Burma.
Bilateral ties with Burma are good, despite occasional
border strains and an influx of more than 270,000 Muslim
refugees (known as "Rohingya") from
predominantly Buddhist Burma. As a result of bilateral
discussions, and with the cooperation and assistance of
the UNHCR, most of the Rohingya refugees have now returned
to Burma. As of 2000, about 22,000 refugees remain in
camps in southern Bangladesh.
Former
Soviet Union. The
former Soviet Union supported India's actions during the
1971 Indo-Pakistan war and was among the first to
recognize Bangladesh. The U.S.S.R. initially contributed
considerable relief and rehabilitation aid to the new
nation. After Sheikh Mujib was assassinated in 1975 and
replaced by military regimes, however, Soviet-Bangladesh
relations cooled.
In 1989, the U.S.S.R. ranked 14th among aid donors to
Bangladesh. The Soviets focused on the development of
electrical power, natural gas and oil, and maintained
active cultural relations with Bangladesh. They financed
the Ghorasal thermal power station--the largest in
Bangladesh. Recently, Russia has conducted an aggressive
military sales effort in Dhaka and has succeeded with a
$124 million deal for eight MIG -29 fighters. Bangladesh
began to open diplomatic relations with the newly
independent Central Asian states in 1992.
China.
China traditionally has been more important to Bangladesh
than the former U.S.S.R., even though China supported
Pakistan in 1971. As Bangladesh's relations with the
Soviet Union and India cooled in the mid-1970s, and as
Bangladesh and Pakistan became reconciled, China's
relations with Bangladesh grew warmer. An exchange of
diplomatic missions in February 1976 followed an accord on
recognition in late 1975.
Since that time, relations have grown stronger, centering
on trade, cultural activities, military and civilian aid,
and exchanges of high-level visits, beginning in January
1977 with President Zia's trip to Beijing. The largest and
most visible symbol of bilateral amity is the
Bangladesh-China "Friendship Bridge," completed
in 1989 near Dhaka, as well as the extensive military
hardware in the Bangladesh inventory and warm military
relations between the two countries. In the 1990s, the
Chinese also built two 210 megawatt power plants outside
of Chittagong; mechanical faults in the plants cause them
to frequently shut down for days at a time, heightening
the country's power shortage.
Other
countries in South Asia.
Bangladesh maintains friendly relations with Bhutan,
Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka and strongly opposed the
Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Bangladesh and Nepal
recently agreed to facilitate land transit between the two
countries. |
