Government has excellent relations with all: Foreign Minister
Foreign Minister and Joint General Secretary of Awami League Dr. Hasan Mahmud said, 'Our government is the elected government of the people of Bangladesh and we have excellent diplomatic relations with all countries including India, Russia, China, United States, European Union, United Kingdom.
He said these things in response to a question during an exchange of views with journalists after the meeting between the ambassadors of China and Nepal and the Bangladesh coordinator of the United Nations at Segunbagicha in the capital on Sunday (January 28) afternoon.
During the meeting, the ambassadors of both China and Nepal handed over the congratulatory letters of their respective foreign ministers to Dr. Hasan Mahmud.
Minister Hasan Mahmud said, "China is our important development partner" after meeting Chinese Ambassador Yao Wen. From China we import more, export less. China has expressed interest in importing jute, leather, meat, sea-food, fish and mangoes from Bangladesh in talks to increase our exports. We can start exporting mangoes in July or August. China is a big market.
He further said that there was a discussion on duty free access of our products.
Referring to the discussion on Rohingya repatriation in the meeting, the foreign minister said, "The mother of humanity, the Prime Minister gave shelter to the displaced Rohingyas." Our people also opened their doors. But now the locals are the minority in Cox's Bazar, the Rohingyas are more. Various problems including security, drugs are being created there. We have said that the only solution is the safe repatriation of the Rohingyas to their own country Myanmar with full rights. China is working on this and has agreed to work towards repatriation. The internal hostile environment of Myanmar was also discussed.
The minister said, "China has invited our Prime Minister for a visit, discussions are underway for it to happen at a convenient time."
After the meeting with the coordinator of the United Nations, Dr. Gwen Lewis, Dr. Hasan Mahmud said, "The UN Secretary General congratulated Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on her re-election in his letter and in his meeting with me in Kampala and praised her leadership to world leaders." But the statements made by the United Nations Human Rights Council are sometimes inconsistent. I have discussed this with him.
The Foreign Minister said, 'The news they got from biased and wrong sources should not happen. I informed him that the events of October 28, like burning people to death, burning sleeping people, were not mentioned in the report of the United Nations Human Rights Council. The UN coordinator said he is looking into the matter.
Referring to the discussion of Rohingya repatriation, the Minister said, "After the Ukraine war and later the Israeli invasion of Gaza, the international community has focused more on it. International aid to the Rohingya has also halved. I have said that the Rohingya issue should be in the spotlight of the international community. The UN coordinator said that an international working group is working on it in Geneva and a meeting on it is forthcoming.
The Foreign Minister said that people-to-people communication, increase in travel and trade expansion were discussed with the ambassador of Nepal, Ghanshyam Bhandari.
He said, 'Nepal is only 35 km away from our northern border. We already have an electricity import agreement with Nepal, a country that has the potential to produce 1 lakh megawatts of hydropower and the tariff is being discussed.