China, India to feature in UK-Bangladesh strategic dialogue

The visiting British Permanent Under Secretary to the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Sir Simon McDonald, has said that China and India will feature in the third strategic dialogue with Bangladesh on Wednesday.

Replying to a question on what will be discussed in the regional connectivity and stability context, he said Bangladesh is in the neigbourhood of two big players even though it is the eighth largest country in the world by population.

“But it is dwarfed by India and China. The rise of China is one of the defining features in the 21st century and that will feature in tomorrow’s dialogue. India too will feature,” McDonald, who will lead the British side in the dialogue, told a select group of journalists on Tuesday.

His counterpart foreign secretary Md Shahidul Haque will lead the Bangladesh side.

McDonald said they would also discuss the Rohingya issue as the challenge of displaced people of the Rakhine state is “very much in the UK’s mind and it is more in the Bangladesh’s mind because Bangladesh is now hosting more than 1 million Rohingya people”.

He said the UK, as one of the permanent members of the UNSC, is the penholder on the Rohingya issue in New York and will not let it drop.

The strategic dialogue covers a range of issues between the countries. It is a dialogue in which senior level officials of both sides lead and attend.

McDonald, a top UK diplomat, said he leads two more such dialogue apart from Bangladesh – Canada and Israel.

“We are historically close with Bangladesh and the UK stood with Bangladesh in 1971. We are proud of the role played by the Bangladesh community. So two years ago, we deiced to lift the profile. And strategic dialogue is one of the ways of that,” he said, replying to a question on why the UK holds strategic dialogue with Bangladesh.

“The signal is this is an important relationship that covers policy waterfront. That will be evident tomorrow,” he said.

Earlier, the foreign ministry of Bangladesh said in a statement that they will discuss multilateral issues including Rohingya, countering terrorism and violent extremism, growing focus on trade and investment relations, new areas of cooperation, regional connectivity and stability, and wide range of global issues including climate change, migration, cooperation in UN peacekeeping, Sustainable Development Goals, and Development partnership in the LDC gradation process.

The UK side will have a delegation of 15-20 members comprising the representatives from Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Department of International Development, Department of Trade, UK Home Office/ UK Border Agency, Department of Transport, and Ministry of Defence, the foreign ministry said.

Bangladesh side is expected to consist of the delegation from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Commerce, Export Promotion Bureau, Bangladesh Investment Development Authority, Ministry of Defence, Economic Relations Division, Security Services Division, Special Branch of Bangladesh Police, and Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism.

Bangladesh High Commissioner to the UK Saida Muna Tasneem will attend the dialogue.

McDonald is expected to give a talk on UK-Bangladesh relations during the times of Brexit at the Bangladesh Institute of International Strategic Studies.