Bangladesh is ‘peace-loving nation, doesn’t want war’: Top diplomat

By Busra Nur Cakmak

ANTALYA, Turkiye (AA) – Bangladesh is a “peace-loving nation” and wants disputes to be resolved through dialogue, the country’s top diplomat said on the war between Russia and Ukraine.

“We don't want any war. We believe that peace is imperative. Peace and stability are imperative for development,” Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen told Anadolu Agency in an exclusive interview.

“We live in a global world, we're very interconnected. If there is some uncertainty or disturbance or non-peace in some countries, it affects us,” said Momen, adding Bangladesh is “very dependent on the stability and peace of other countries.”

“If there is some uncertainty in Saudi Arabia or the Middle East, we feel bad about it because our people work there. They will lose their jobs. There has been a disruption in retail marketing in Europe and also in the US. It affected our industries. We are number two in the world in terms of exporting readymade garments,” he said.

“And I think we should all work together sincerely to help end this war and resolve the issue through dialogue and discussion.”
Responding to a question on whether the recent sanctions on Russia would affect Bangladesh’s nuclear power plant project, Momen said they don’t know yet and have to examine the issue.

“It seems that the sanctions will affect many countries. Already they are affecting the price of oil. It has gone up. Even American consumers will be suffering from the sanctions,” he said.

“But any sanctions by and large have a negative impact on many other countries. You have imposed sanctions on one specific country, but maybe other countries, ones that are not directly related, could also be affected,” he added.

- Relations between Bangladesh and Turkiye

The top Bangladeshi diplomat said Turkiye and Bangladesh have developed a momentum in bilateral relations in recent years. Their bilateral trade volume is $1.5 billion, but the two countries are targeting over $2 billion, as they “have many complementary products.”

Momen said Turkiye is a “household name in Bangladesh,” with its popular TV shows aired in the South Asian country, which Bangladeshi people love.

“So we need Turkiye’s help in other areas,” as well as with Bangladesh’s development trajectory, said Momen, adding Turkiye is very good at construction, and cooperation in this field is also something Bangladesh wants.

“I think there is lots of scope for Turkiye to come to build bridges, roads, highways, and Turkiye should pick up those projects,” he said.

“In addition, with the rise in living standards, people would like to have better hospitals, and (Turkish) President (Recep Tayyip) Erdogan assured that he would like to establish a hospital in Bangladesh. We are working on it.”

“So the relationship is coming up. I mean, I should say ‘jumping up’,” said Momen, adding President Erdogan and Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina are both “very committed to helping improve the living style and welfare of the people.”

On the subject of cooperation with Turkiye in the area of defense, Momen said his country’s priority is not purchasing defense equipment but putting more resources into development efforts.

“However, you have to have a strong defense, and we are buying our necessary equipment,” he said, adding: “Turkiye has many good products that are affordable and sales are also very lucrative. So we brought some from here and hopefully we'll be buying more, and many of Turkiye’s products are very up to date.”

- US sanctions on Bangladeshi elite force ‘unfortunate’

Momen said the move by the US in December last year to impose sanctions on Bangladesh’s Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) is “very unfortunate,” since the two countries’ “relationship is based on values, principles. Both countries believe in democracy.”

“They imposed sanctions because there has been some human rights violation,” said Momen, adding 76 people have disappeared and seven of them have already been found and the Bangladeshi authorities are working on the rest.

“The institution that got sanctioned, the RAB, Rapid Action Battalion, this was basically designed and developed by the US and UK,” he said.

Momen said that in the early 2000s, a lot of bad incidents happened in Bangladesh. There were terrorist attacks, innocent people were killed by a series of bomb blasts by terrorists, minorities were in danger, women were being raped and the overall security situation worsened.

“Such was the bad situation at the time. And upon the advice of Western authorities, we created RAB. RAB was created, and they control terrorism very effectively and efficiently. There could be some excesses. It’s possible. We are looking into it,” he added.

“If there are some weaknesses, if there are some gaps, we would like to talk. We have already taken many remedial measures and we are working on it. The US is our great friend.”

The US Treasury Department designated Benazir Ahmed, Bangladesh’s current inspector general of police and former head of RAB, and six officials under the Global Magnitsky sanctions program in connection with the extrajudicial killings of 600 people and enforced disappearances.