[🇧🇩] Foreign policy of the new government after the election

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Issues with other countries to be resolved on mutual respect: FM

Foreign affairs minister Khalilur Rahman said on Monday that Bangladesh’s issues with other countries would be resolved on the basis of mutual respect as well as mutual benefit.

www.newagebd.net

Issues with other countries to be resolved on mutual respect: FM

EU for continuation of reforms, China invites Tarique

Staff Correspondent 23 February, 2026, 16:44

A European Union delegation, led by EU Ambassador to Bangladesh Michael Miller, pays a courtesy call on foreign minister Khalilur Rahman at the foreign ministry in Dhaka on Monday. | PID photo

Foreign affairs minister Khalilur Rahman said on Monday that Bangladesh’s issues with other countries would be resolved on the basis of mutual respect as well as mutual benefit.

‘Our issues with other countries will be resolved on the basis of mutual respect and mutual benefit as well,’ he said, adding that the new government led by Tarique Rahman would always follow the policy of non-interference in internal affairs, freedom and sovereignty of other states.

He was talking to reporters at his ministry after separate meetings with several European diplomats and the United States ambassador to Bangladesh.

Meanwhile, Chinese ambassador to Bangladesh Yao Wen paid a courtesy call on prime minister Tarique Rahman at his Cabinet Division office at the secretariat.

Chinese ambassador to Bangladesh Yao Wen pays a call on prime minister Tarique Rahman at his Cabinet Division office at secretariat in Dhaka on Monday. — PID photo

Yao Wen invited prime minister Tarique Rahman to visit China and conveyed warm congratulations and greetings from Chinese president Xi Jinping and premier Li Qiang, according to a Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha report.

Prime Minister’s Foreign Affairs Adviser Humayun Kabir disclosed this while briefing the journalists at the Secretariat after the meeting.

The Chinese envoy assured that his country would continue all kinds of cooperation to safeguard Bangladesh’s sovereignty,

During the meeting, the two sides discussed Bangladesh-China relations and the Rohingya crisis, BSS reported quoting the prime minister’s additional press secretary Atikur Rahman Ruman as saying.

The foreign minister said that they wanted to build mutually beneficial relations with foreign countries as co-equals.

He further said that all the friendly countries were expressing their intent to work closely with the Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led government formed on February 17 following the party’s victory in the February 12 parliamentary polls.

‘We are sharing our foreign policy outline with the Bangladesh First motto as we began meetings with foreign diplomats on Sunday... We want to build mutually beneficial relations with other countries as co-equals,’ stated Khalilur, a former diplomat, who worked as national security adviser for the immediate past interim government.

Diplomats from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, China, India and Pakistan also paid courtesy call on him on Sunday, he further said.

His government would establish a dynamic foreign policy upholding the ‘national dignity’, he added.

Asked about government measures to stop border killings along the Bangladesh-India frontiers, the foreign minister said that they were currently holding courtesy meetings and would discuss specific issues later.

After his courtesy meeting with foreign minister Khalilur and state minister for foreign affairs Shama Obaed Islam, European Union ambassador to Bangladesh Michael Miller said that the European Union being the country’s most reliable and largest commercial partner expected that the new government would carry on the reforms initiated by the interim government in various sectors, including judiciary and administration.

Responding to a question, the envoy said that the finalisation of the Partnership Cooperation Agreement with Bangladesh was near.

Earlier on the day, US ambassador Brent Christensen also called on the foreign minister at his ministry office.

‘Congratulations to Khalil Rahman on his new role as minister of foreign affairs. So pleased to continue working together to make both of our countries safer, stronger, and more prosperous,’ Christensen said in a statement shared on the US Embassy Dhaka official Facebook page.​

 

[Saif]

BD for mutually beneficial, forward-looking ties with neighbours

Bangladesh has reiterated its commitment to strengthening mutually beneficial and forward-looking relations with neighbouring countries in order to promote regional peace and prosperity. The message was conveyed by State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shama Obaed Islam when the ambassadors of Bhutan

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

BD for mutually beneficial, forward-looking ties with neighbours
Importance of revitalising SAARC stressed

FE REPORT
Published :
Mar 09, 2026 11:55
Updated :
Mar 09, 2026 11:55

Bangladesh has reiterated its commitment to strengthening mutually beneficial and forward-looking relations with neighbouring countries in order to promote regional peace and prosperity.

The message was conveyed by State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shama Obaed Islam when the ambassadors of Bhutan and Nepal paid separate courtesy calls on her at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Dhaka on Sunday.

According to the ministry, Dasho Karma Hamu Dorjee, Ambassador of Bhutan to Bangladesh, and Ghanshyam Bhandari, Ambassador of Nepal, congratulated the State Minister on assuming office and conveyed their governments' interest in working closely with the new government of Bangladesh.

During the meeting with the Bhutanese envoy, the two sides reviewed the overall state of Bangladesh-Bhutan relations and expressed interest in further strengthening cooperation in areas such as trade and commerce, energy, connectivity, education and people-to-people contacts.

The State Minister also recalled Bhutan's historic recognition of Bangladesh following its independence in 1971 during the Bangladesh Liberation War.

Discussions also covered ongoing engagements between the two countries, including expansion of bilateral trade and the proposed establishment of a Bhutanese Special Economic Zone in Kurigram.

In a separate meeting with the Nepalese envoy, the State Minister congratulated the government and people of Nepal on the successful conduct of the country's recent parliamentary election.

Both sides discussed a range of issues of mutual interest, including trade, energy cooperation, connectivity, education, tourism, cultural exchanges and people-to-people contacts, and reaffirmed their commitment to deepening bilateral cooperation.

They also exchanged views on strengthening regional cooperation. The State Minister recalled the vision of former president Ziaur Rahman in establishing the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and stressed the importance of revitalising the regional body to enhance collaboration among South Asian countries.

Officials said the meetings reflected Bangladesh's continued emphasis on building stronger partnerships with neighbouring countries and promoting regional cooperation.​

 

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Why Bangladesh should use FDI as a foreign policy strategy

Bangladesh spends a lot of energy explaining itself, to investors, multilateral lenders, and regional partners.

www.thedailystar.net

Why Bangladesh should use FDI as a foreign policy strategy

15 March 2026, 03:42 AM
Rahat Ahmed

Bangladesh spends a lot of energy explaining itself, to investors, multilateral lenders, and regional partners. The pitch is always the same: young population, low labour costs, strong export fundamentals. It is accurate and it is almost entirely besides the point. The countries that command respect in economic negotiations are not the ones with the best PowerPoint decks. They are the ones whose absence would cost someone else money.

Consider how leverage actually works in geopolitical and economic negotiations. When Vietnam pushed back on US trade conditions in the mid-2010s, it had something concrete behind it: billions in manufacturing exposure from US and Asian multinationals who needed Vietnamese supply chains to remain stable and open. When India negotiates with the IMF, it does so as a country where global capital has made substantial, illiquid bets. Leverage in diplomacy increasingly follows capital. Countries that have attracted deep, sticky foreign investment — the kind embedded in factories, financial investments, and supply chains with cascading effects — negotiate from a fundamentally different position than countries that are still an after-thought.

Rahat Ahmed

Bangladesh is still fighting to get on the radar, not because the opportunities are weak, but because the country’s playbook is outdated. Bangladesh attracted FDI equivalent to roughly 0.3 percent of its GDP in 2024, against Vietnam’s 4.2 percent and Indonesia’s 1.7 percent. The difference reflects a failure of narrative, coordinated outreach, and the feedback loops needed to translate strong fundamentals into opportunities that, over time, compound into policy reform and industrial development.

Bangladesh has largely assumed the fundamentals speak for themselves. They don’t. This matters beyond economics. Foreign investment creates stakeholders. Foreign investment is how smaller economies build the relationships that protect them, the leverage that gives them options, and the presence in global supply chains that makes them too costly to ignore. What Bangladesh has lacked is the recognition that attracting investment is not an economic priority with diplomatic benefits.

When a Malaysian conglomerate has a major manufacturing footprint in Bangladesh, the Malaysian government has a direct interest in Bangladesh’s political stability and market access. When European investors hold exposure to Bangladeshi bonds or equity, London becomes more attentive to Bangladesh’s interests in trade negotiations. Capital does not just flow into a country — it creates relationships and incentives that reshape how counterparties engage.

Bangladesh’s diplomatic relationships have historically been underutilised. The relationship with Malaysia is instructive: Bangladesh supplies nearly 40 percent of Malaysia’s foreign workforce and received $3.03 billion in remittances from Malaysia in 2024 alone, according to The Daily Star. Yet, Malaysia’s cumulative investment position in Bangladesh amounts to roughly $820 million built up over decades. Malaysia extracts labour; Bangladesh extracts remittances. Deepening Malaysian investment in manufacturing, infrastructure, halal supply chains would give Kuala Lumpur a reason to treat Dhaka as a partner rather than a labour supplier.

Visual: Anwar Sohel

Bangladesh sits at one of the most strategically significant geographic intersections in Asia between South Asia and Southeast Asia. China, India, Japan, and the United States all have reasons to care about which direction Bangladesh chooses to face. That is genuine leverage. But leverage is only real when activated. Attracting capital from multiple competing powers creates the balanced exposure that gives a small country room to manoeuvre. Dependency on any single partner erodes that room. Diversified investment builds it.

The US tariff episode last year illustrated this gap in real time. When Bangladesh faced significant new tariffs on garment exports, what went unmobilised were the US corporate interests that stood to lose alongside it. Walmart, Target, and Gap source billions from Bangladeshi factories, and each has Washington lobbying operations that Bangladesh cannot match. BGMEA and the government had a ready-made coalition of US companies whose interests aligned precisely with Bangladesh’s. That coalition was barely activated. Bangladesh negotiated virtually alone.

Foreign corporate presence is not just an economic input. It is a political asset and countries that understand this build their investment strategies accordingly.

The BNP government’s 10 million jobs mandate creates a political opening to make this case domestically. Jobs require capital, capital requires foreign investment, and foreign investment requires institutional reforms that have been deferred for too long. What has been missing is the urgency to match the rhetoric.

Capital that does not come to Bangladesh goes somewhere else. To Vietnam. To Indonesia. To Pakistan. Every dollar that builds a factory elsewhere is a dollar that does not create a stakeholder in Bangladesh’s stability. The competition for foreign investment is not abstract. It is a competition for geopolitical relevance. FDI is a seat at the table, side by side with the countries that set the terms.

Rahat Ahmed is the founder and managing partner of Anchorless Bangladesh. He is also the co-founder of B/deshi, a global diaspora network connecting Bangladeshi professionals.​