DHAKA, 06 November 2022, (TON): Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Li Jiming said “China expects Bangladesh to maintain peace and stability, which is essential for development.”

He said China's policy is not to intervene in any internal affairs of any foreign country, therefore, China is also not interested in Bangladesh's political affairs.

Jiming said “however, peace and stability are essential for the development of any country and thus China wants the same in Bangladesh.”

The ambassador was speaking at a seminar on the 20thNational Congress of China organised by the Bangladesh-China Silk Road Forum at a city hotel.

WASHINGTON, 06 November 2022, (TON): The State Department said “US Secretary of State Antony Blinken reaffirmed Washington’s commitment to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in a phone call with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.”

The move came as Israel’s former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has not endorsed the two-state idea, sealed his return to power following Tuesday’s election and launched negotiations on forming what could be the most right-wing government in Israel’s history.

The State Department said in a statement “in a call with Abbas, Blinken further reaffirmed our commitment to a two-state solution.”

Blinken and Abbas also discussed “joint efforts to improve the quality of life for the Palestinian people and enhance their security and freedom.”

NEW DELHI, 06 November 2022, (TON): The Indian Navy has urged its Sri Lankan counterpart to adopt a more humane approach towards Indian fishermen. This was discussed during the Indian Maritime Boundary Line meeting held aboard a Lankan ship in the Bay of Bengal on November 4.

A defence press release said “flag officer commanding S Venkat Raman spoke to Lankan Navy commander (northern naval area) Tennekoon during the 32nd edition of the meeting.”

The meeting onboard 'Sayura' saw a discussion on maritime security and safety of Indian fishermen in the Palk Strait.

DHAKA, 06 November 2022, (TON): US Deputy Assistant Secretary Afreen Akhter arrived in Dhaka on a two-day visit.

She will be holding a meeting with Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen, other senior government officials and civil society members during her brief visit.

Akhter was appointed to the post in the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs for Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and the Maldives, as well as the Office of Security and Transnational Affairs on April 25.

She most recently served as a senior adviser to SCA Assistant Secretary Don Lu. Earlier, she was the national security and foreign affairs adviser to US Senator Chris Van Hollen.

DHAKA, 06 November 2022, (TON): Every country is struggling with the prices of essentials and is having to use their reserves. Bangladesh is also doing the same for its people, said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

She said “prices of essentials have shot up due to the Ukraine-Russia war and the coronavirus pandemic.”

The government is purchasing fertilizers, fuel and edible oil at high prices, she mentioned.

She also urged people to be economical considering the situation.

DHAKA, 06 November 2022, (TON): Transparency International Bangladesh has expressed concerns over the potential discriminatory implications of some of the conditions on which the International Monetary Fund is proposing its USD 4.5 billion loan to Bangladesh.

TIB has also called upon the lender to be consistent with its own policy against corruption and money laundering.

In a media statement issued “TIB drew the attention of the IMF negotiating team to the potential distributive injustices of some of their proposed conditions like reform of subsidies on fuel, fertiliser, electricity, and gas.”

By TON Bangladesh

Bangladesh is the third-largest Muslim-majority country and the eighth-most populous in the world, strategically located at the crossroads between South and Southeast Asia. The country is rightly gathering the cumulative attention of the world’s powers as an important regional country in the indo-pacific. Bangladesh can play a unique role in South Asia, as the world faces the next generation of military, political, and economic competition between the US and China.

Bangladesh continues to carefully balance its relations, especially among India, China, Russia, and the United States and is helping the regional pace to promote a free, open, and rules-based international system. With historic levels of economic growth for more than the past decade, Bangladesh has met the eligibility criteria for graduation from Least Developed Country (LDC) status. Despite the dampening effect of the 2020 global pandemic remains on track to do so. This achievement underlines Bangladesh’s extraordinary development success and its efficacy since its independence in 1971. At the same time, Bangladesh continues to host one of the world’s large refugee populations, more than one million Rohingya from Myanmar. 

Bangladesh plays a growing and significant role in supporting international peace and security, particularly as one of the largest troop contributors to United Nations (UN) peacekeeping operations.  Traditionally Bangladesh is a reasonable and peaceful country. However, Bangladesh needs to improve law enforcement’s investigation-led operations and judicial system capacity to properly prosecute terrorism cases in a bid to secure its security, including within its territorial waters, and also to play its due role in the Indo-Pacific area.

However, the incumbent government must improve its democratic image. As the past national elections alleged to be marred by irregularities, violence, and intimidation consolidated the power of the incumbent Prime Minister and her ruling party, the Awami League. This allowed the government to adopt legislation and policies diminishing space for political opposition, undermining judicial independence, and threatening the freedom of the media and NGOs. Subsequent local elections have only further evidenced these undemocratic trends and concentrated authority.

Bangladesh's government needs to promote grassroots community activities to revitalize Bangladesh’s democratic culture and also to ensure respect for all human rights and civil liberties. Building progress to counter trafficking in persons and enable access to justice to increase the public’s confidence is a need of the hour in Bangladesh. Bangladesh's government should also pursue robust engagement to address the most striking human rights abuses including enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, and restrictions on core civil liberties.

Bangladesh’s ability to feed, educate, and protect itself from illness and natural disasters is also vital to its internal political stability, development, and future success. Bangladesh has made enormous progress over the past three decades in the health sector, but still it needs further efforts to improve health and education services which are essential for economic productivity.

Major challenges also remain to reduce unacceptably high maternal and child mortality, improve family planning, and increase access to health services. Despite gains in access to education, educational quality in Bangladesh remains sub-standard and vocational opportunities are limited. Bangladesh is one of the highest-risk countries in the world for natural disasters. Nearly all of Bangladesh is a delta to the highest mountain ranges in the world and only a few meters above sea level. As such, the development of the country depends upon its ability to adapt to changing weather patterns and effectively manage its natural resources.

Bangladesh also needs to increase its capacity to withstand natural disasters and to improve the management of natural resources, and sustainably develop the energy needed to fuel its economy. Modern technical assistance can ensure Bangladesh’s readiness to respond to cyclones, floods, and earthquakes.

Currently, Bangladesh is facing the refugee burden and devising durable solutions to this crisis, including an eventual voluntary and sustainable return of the refugees to Myanmar. For humanitarian sake, Bangladesh continues to host most of the nearly 700,000 ethnic Rohingya who fled to Bangladesh from Myanmar. This presents security, economic, and political challenges for Bangladesh as it continues its upward development amid struggling for maintaining domestic security and economic stability.

Bangladesh is a crucial driver of regional and global economic development as the nexus of the major trade route of the Indo-Pacific Economic Corridor.  In this regard, Bangladesh is endeavoring through IMF help to sustain its fragile economy. For this, Bangladesh should improve its labor rights and workplace safety as well as to address serious infrastructure deficiencies, pervasive corruption, and an absence of diversity in its economy. All these reforms are necessary for a peaceful, secure, prosperous, healthy, and democratic Bangladesh.

GABORONE, 05 November 2022, (TON): President Mokgweetsi Masisi of the Republic of Botswana received Advisor at the Saudi Royal Court Ahmed bin Abdulaziz Qattan at the presidential palace in Gaborone.

During the meeting, Qattan conveyed the greetings of King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to the president, and their best wishes for more progress and prosperity for the government and people of Botswana.

Bilateral relations between the two countries and ways of enhancing them in all fields were discussed, and regional and international developments were reviewed.

TALLINN, 05 November 2022, (TON): The Polish border service on Friday reported an increase in the number of Middle Eastern migrants trying to illegally cross into the European Union at the border of Belarus and Poland.

In the past 24 hours, border agents detained 117 migrants from Syria, Yemen, Egypt, Iraq, Cameroon, Morocco and Sri Lanka, with 65 others detained the previous day. Belarusian border officials declined to comment.

Last week, the Polish border service released an Oct. 26 video that appears to show Belarusian border guards near the border with Poland, leading a group of migrants and trying to hide their faces from the camera.

It said “Belarusian border guards help migrants cross the border to Poland, with most migrants now traveling first to Russia and then taking organized transport to Belarus.”

DUBAI, 05 November 2022, (TON): Jordan has voted in favor of a UN General Assembly draft resolution calling for an end to the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the US on Cuba.

The global body overwhelmingly condemned the American government’s continued refusal to lift the embargo for the 30th year, with 185 member-countries supporting the UN resolution.

The US and Israel voted against the draft resolution, while both Brazil and Ukraine abstained.

Thursday’s 185-2 vote was similar to previous years. The General Assembly’s vote in November 2019 was 187-3, with the US, Israel and Brazil voting “no” and Colombia and Ukraine abstaining.

General Assembly resolutions are usually not legally binding and are unenforceable, but they reflect global opinion and the recent UN vote gave Cuba a chance to highlight continued US efforts to isolate the country.