Bangladesh will stick to ‘friendship to all’ foreign policy: Shahriar Alam

Bangladesh will stick to the principle of friendship to all, malice towards none as its principle foreign policy amid the evolving global order, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam said on Tuesday.

"The tectonic plate of diplomacy and the global order is shifting. Despite that we will stick to our current principle in foreign policy," he said as the chief guest at a seminar organised by the Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS) at its auditorium in Dhaka.

"Bangladesh will never compromise on the founding principles of nationalism, socialism, democracy and secularism. Bangladesh will continue to mobilise its resources based on these founding principles," he added.

Shahriar Alam said Bangladesh would keep expanding its relationship as a good neighbour with the neighbouring countries.

He emphasised strengthening bilateral relations with neighbours through promoting partnerships and cooperation, increasing trade and commerce, pursuing cooperation in the water and power sector, enhancing connectivity, and collaborating on capacity building for people-to-people contact. 

He also underscored the importance of humanitarian assistance to demonstrate soft power among the neighbouring countries.

He mentioned that the Bangladesh government is persistently working to consolidate relations with neighbours for regional stability, shared prosperity, and mutual development. 

As the chair of the session, M Humayun Kabir, president of Bangladesh Enterprise Institute noted that in the changing global order, countries around the world are struggling to formulate their foreign policies with neighbours and Bangladesh must navigate through this cautiously.

Major General Sheikh Pasha Habib Uddin, director general, BIISS, and Lailufar Yasmin, chairman, Department of International Relations, University of Dhaka, also spoke at the event among others.