Bangladesh wants amicable ties with all neighbors

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Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said on Sunday that her country needed to develop amicable ties with all its neighbors.

She made the remarks at the inaugural session of a conference of Bangladeshi envoys based in foreign countries.

Being a peace-loving country, Hasina said: "We have to solve our problems through negotiations."

With reference to an agreement signed with Myanmar on Thursday for repatriation of the Rohingya refugees, Hasina said the consensus is a result of bilateral negotiations.

"We want to solve this (Rohingya) crisis without hampering our good relations with our neighbor (Myanmar)."

Rohingya refugees wait for a boat to cross a canal in Teknaf, Bangladesh. /Reuters Photo

The "door with neighbors for negotiation should not remain closed. We have to keep contact with neighbors," she said, adding that her country would be benefiting from the good relations with neighbors.

Hasina said the foreign policy principle of Bangladesh is "Friendship with All, Malice to None."

Bangladesh will remain a pacifist nation, she said.

"Our policy is very clear and we will not allow anybody to use our land for carrying subversive activities against any country, or as a route of smuggling arms, drugs or human trafficking."

She urged the envoys to promote the country's interest and image abroad, and specially to look into the matters of expatriate workers.

The prime minister said her government has opened 17 new missions abroad.

Calling poverty the common enemy of South Asian countries, Hasina said, "We have to fight together against poverty."

"We're attaching utmost importance to sub-regional and interconnection initiatives," she said.

Meanwhile, Hasina said: "We have already joined BCIM (Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar) Economic Corridor, which is aimed at bolstering trade, strengthening friendly relations and socio-economic development of the region."

The three-day conference, the first of its kind since Bangladesh's independence, is attended by high commissioners, ambassadors and permanent representatives of Bangladesh.

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Source(s): Xinhua News Agency