Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen has said Dhaka has no “immediate reason” to be concerned about the Citizenship Amendment Act because they has been assured by India that it is the nation’s internal matter and will not have any impact on them.
Momen told ThePrint that Dhaka was in touch with New Delhi on the issue nevertheless.
Dhaka had in 2019 expressed its concern over amended citizenship act and the rollout of NRC in Assam. Momen and Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan had cancelled their visits to India in December 2019, and Bangladesh had even asked for a written assurance from New Delhi over the implementation of CAA-NRC.
Amid the period of friction between the countries over the issue, Foreign Secretary Harsh V Shringla, went to Bangladesh despite a raging pandemic and made the vaccine offer as a goodwill gesture towards it.
The country on Monday received the first consignment of the 5 million doses of Covishield vaccines from India under a procurement agreement, four days after New Delhi “gifted” 2 million doses of the vaccine to Dhaka. A special Air India flight carrying the shots reached the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport to be initially stored at a warehouse of private Beximco Pharmaceuticals Ltd ahead of their planned countrywide distribution.
Momen was visiting India for the India-Bangladesh Foreign Office Consultations (FOC) on Friday. He also called on External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar during the visit.
He said both nations needed to see the “bigger picture” to make gains. “There’s so much potential if both countries can increase trade volume and get rid of some of the small irritants like non-tariff barriers, counter-veiling duties and some regulatory framework, especially in customs and other departments,” he told ThePrint.
He said the concept of ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ would also benefit Bangladesh because it was a growing economy, and espoused the importance of connectivity.
Dhaka is planning to come out with its own strategy for the Indo-Pacific, Momen said, adding that the country sees the framework as more of an economic opportunity than a security grouping.
He said Bangladesh was interested in Indo-Pacific because it was in the Bay of Bengal area and part of the blue economy. “For us, getting part of any security alliance as such is difficult because we believe in the non-aligned policies and we would like to keep it that way,” he added.
Momen pointed out that while Bangladesh was a “close friend of Japan, Australia, India and the USA”, it was more open to economic groupings, which is why it was also a part of the BRI (Belt and Road Initiative) mooted by China. “But under BIMSTEC also, we have so many economic integration policies … BIMSTEC is better than SAARC, which is not moving at all. So let’s see,” he said.
Momen said Dhaka was looking to procure key defence items from India, even as they continue to source equipment from China as well.
“India has already offered a $500 million line of credit … We can diversify our procurement that we get for our three forces and also police and hopefully, we can utilise this LOC,” he said.
He added that the Rohingya issue was a big issue for Dhaka, and that the country could seek help from any of its friends.
“Myanmar is also our good friend and I think they are in a good position to extend help. If China is helping us right now to move forward these trilateral negotiations, we feel that once we are ready with repatriation, with the first few batches, then India, Japan and ASEAN can help the Rohingyas to crossover to Rakhine, ensuring their safety and give them confidence,” he said.
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