Dhaka has agreed to work with Washington to implement energy and infrastructure projects under the vision of Indo-Pacific Strategy (IPS), a US formula for establishing transparent and good governance-driven democratic societies in the Indo-Pacific region. The issue was discussed at a meeting between Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Washington Monday.
State Department Spokesperson Morgan Ortagus said: “The Secretary (Pompeo) emphasized the importance of advancing good governance, transparency, and democratic values, as Bangladesh continues its emergence as a key partner in the Indo-Pacific.”
A press release issued by Bangladesh embassy in Washington said: “Both leaders agreed that for greater prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region, vital energy and infrastructure projects need to be implemented on regional partnership basis. In that respect, leaders of the region need to work together on issues such as governance, accountability, rule of law and maritime security.”
Former Bangladesh Ambassador to Washington Humayun Kabir said, “IPS has security and economic components. Perhaps the foreign minister was trying to say that we would like to be a part of economic part of it.”
About the conflicting views about IPS and Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) pursuing by China, he said, “It is not necessarily true. There are some degree of convergence like economic issue and some degree of divergence like security component.”
If it is only economic, I think there is nothing for China to be upset, he said.
Citing example, he said, Japan is a security partner of the US but the East Asian country has agreed to work with China to implement a BRI project.
Former Bangladesh Ambassador to Beijing Munshi Faiz Ahmed said, “Japan, Australia and India – all are allies of the US, but they maintain close economic cooperation with China.”
IPS is a vision and everybody looks at it through their own national interest prism and that’s why it varies from country to country, he said.
“The most important thing is what is our position in the IPS vision envisaged by Washington and how we participate to achieve it,” he said.
Under the regional cooperation framework, the initiatives are not confrontational rather complimentary to each other, and in the case of IPS and BRI, Bangladesh will always pursue the policy that is best for the country, he added.