The United States (US) is expected to raise the Iran and North Korea issue with Bangladesh during the seventh partnership dialogue to be held in Washington in June.
Washington on the one hand is negotiating with Pyongyang to denuclearize the Korean peninsula while has imposed energy and financial sanction on Tehran.
“In the proposed agenda of the dialogue, the Iran and DPRK issue is included and it will be raised by the US,” said a foreign ministry official wishing to remain anonymous.
He added that Washington is expected to explain its position and seek Dhaka’s support in this regard.
On Dhaka’s position on the matter, he said, “It depends on the situation and context,” and added that their broad principle is “friendship to all and malice to none.”
According to former foreign secretary Shamsher Mubin Chowdhury Bangladesh has long been following the foreign policy of peace and harmony with all the countries.
“Bangladesh has decades old diplomatic and economic relations with both the countries,” he said on the Iran and North Korea issue.
Chowdhury who also served as the Bangladeshi envoy to Washington said that the US has softened its stance over Iran in recent time while US President Trump recently announced that he had full confidence on North Korean leader Kim Jung Un.
“Bangladesh wants to resolve the dispute in Korean peninsula in a peaceful manner and I don’t think it will change in the future,” the former secretary said,
On Iran, he said, “Dhaka does not want any new tension in the Middle East which is already overburdened with so many discords, some of which has lead to war in some countries.”
Former Bangladeshi envoy to China, Munshi Faiz Ahmed said, “We are not a party to those conflicts and in most of the cases, we listen to what Washington or any other big power tells us.”
“If it is not confrontational to Dhaka’s position, we try to limit our comment within the context of peace and harmony,” he said.
The former envoy said Dhaka always promotes peaceful solution in any conflict through dialogue.
“We have good opportunity to promote trade and business with Tehran and we should take position considering those factors,” he said on Iran.
He added that it would be better if the US encourages North Korea to become a mainstream country rather than pushing it to corner.