DEMOCRACY SUMMIT: US snub exposes Bangladesh’s weakness: experts

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DEMOCRACY SUMMIT: US snub exposes Bangladesh’s weakness: experts​

Mustafizur Rahman | Published: 23:48, Feb 27,2023

Experts in international relations, including retired diplomats and an academic, said that Bangladesh’s exclusion from the United States sponsored ‘Summit for Democracy’ for the second time showed that the relationship between the two countries was getting strained internationally, while some found it hardly mattered.

They said that Bangladesh, being a democracy, should have been invited to such a forum of countries with commitments to democracy since it was a matter of reputation for the country as well.

‘It is a matter of reputation. It allows a country to exchange views on democratic values and practices,’ M Humayun Kabir, former ambassador and president of the Bangladesh Enterprise Institute, said.

Referring to India, Pakistan, and Nepal being invited to the Summit for Democracy-2023 scheduled for March 29–30, he told New Age on Sunday that they had democratic institutions and kept the process going.

‘Obviously, it exposes our shortcomings in democracy, as each country joining the summit required submitting a roadmap for improving its democracy,’ said Humayun, also a former foreign secretary.

Retired secretary and former diplomat AH Mofazzal Karim said on Monday that the common people of the country would eagerly look for Bangladesh on the list of countries participating in such a summit.

‘It is a matter of embarrassment for Bangladesh once its name is not on the list of participants in the summit,’ he said.

Mofazzel urged the government to look into the matter seriously in an objective manner and find the country’s deficiencies in meeting the criteria for joining the Summit for Democracy.

‘Moreover, it depends on diplomacy as well. The government should enhance diplomatic efforts to project the country internationally,’ he added.

Retired diplomat Munshi Faiz Ahmad, however, said that Bangladesh, being an independent country, should not share its roadmap with another country.

He said it hardly mattered whether the US invited Bangladesh to the summit.

‘It is good if they invite Bangladesh. But it does not matter whether we are invited or not to join the democracy summit,’ observed Foyez, also the former chairman of the Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies.

He said it was the strategy of the US to get more countries on their platforms on different issues.

Mohammad Tanzimuddin Khan, a Dhaka University professor in the international relations department, said that Bangladesh failed to maintain equilibrium in bilateral diplomatic relations following the Ukraine-Russia war during the past year.

And the strained relationship was recently reflected in Bangladesh prohibiting US-sanctioned Russian ships from entering its territory, while Russia summoned Bangladesh’s ambassador to Moscow over the issue, he added.

He said that the Ukraine war had created a polarisation in global politics where Bangladesh was failing to maintain its bilateral relations with Russia and the US.

Tanzim opined that it was important for Bangladesh to be invited to the democracy summit.

Asked whether Bangladesh was invited to join the US-led Democracy Summit, foreign ministry spokesperson Seheli Sabrin said that she was not officially aware of the matter.

Earlier, foreign minister AK Abdul Momen said that it hardly mattered to Bangladesh whether the US invited Bangladesh to the Democracy Summit.

‘Bangladesh fought for democracy, and it does not matter whether we are invited there or not. It was not even discussed here,’ Momen said when asked whether Bangladesh was invited to join the US-sponsored democracy summit as it was dropped from the 2021 conference.

The issue was raised with the minister during the counsellor of the US Department of State Derek Chollet’s visit here in Dhaka on February 15 as over a hundred countries were invited to join the summit.

On March 29-30, the United States will co-host the second Summit for Democracy with the governments of Costa Rica, the Netherlands, the Republic of Korea, and the Republic of Zambia, according to a statement from the US State Department.

The second Summit for Democracy will assemble world leaders in a virtual, plenary format, followed by gatherings in each of the co-hosted countries with representatives from government, civil society, and the private sector, it said.

Building on the first Summit for Democracy held in December 2021, this gathering will highlight how democracies deliver for their citizens and are best equipped to address the world’s most pressing challenges.

At the first summit in December 2021, approximately 100 governments made nearly 750 commitments to advance democracy, fight corruption, and counter authoritarianism, said the US State Department.

US snub exposes Bangladesh’s weakness: experts

Experts in international relations, including retired diplomats and an academic, said that Bangladesh’s exclusion from the United States sponsored ‘Summit for Democracy’ for the second...

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