DHAKA, March 27: Lack of inter-wing coordination in different Bangladesh missions abroad has been frustrating the government’s efforts to tap Bangladesh’s business potential under its ‘economic diplomacy’ policy, reveals a recent internal report prepared by the foreign ministry. “The wings, very often, fail to defend the country’s interest as a result of their intermittent and isolated efforts,” says the report submitted to the parliamentary standing committee on foreign affairs. Disappointed with the result of “economic diplomacy”, which the government initiated in the early 1990s, the policymakers are now thinking of making the wings’ work coordinated and target-oriented.
Bangladesh has been pursuing the “economic diplomacy” concept to tap opportunities in trade, commerce and economics in the changing global order, and to tap the opportunities, the country runs consular, labour, trade, economic and press wings at 34 out of a total of 58 Bangladesh missions abroad, side by side with their diplomatic wings.
But the wings in the Bangladesh missions have hardly served the purpose, unlike the missions of the other Asian nations, which have boosted the business of their countries, the report says.
Dhaka considers Washington, New York, London, Berlin, Paris, Brussels, Tokyo, Geneva, Beijing, Ottawa, Rome, Riyadh, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Seoul, Singapore, Manila and Los Angeles as economically and commercially important for Bangladesh. The country maintains trade and economic wings in at least 18 of the stations to promote the country’s exports and facilitate more business.
The country maintains consular and labour wings in Kuala Lumpur, Rome, London, Manchester, Birmingham, Bandar Seri Begawan, Madrid, Singapore and the Middle Eastern stations to look after the interests of the expatriated workers.
For defence and strategic reasons, the country considers New Delhi, Islamabad, London, Washington, Beijing, Ottawa, Paris, Berlin, Moscow, Myanmar, Kathmandu, Thimpu, Pretoria, Agartala, Male, Ankara and Hanoi geographically and politically important stations. The country maintains military wings in 14 missions and press wings in five missions among these stations.
The foreign ministry found that the wings’ tasks are not harmonized, resulting in repeated failures to make optimum use of the manpower posted in the stations.
The ministry’s report says the officials of none of the wings are accountable to the missions’ chiefs. They hardly bother to report to the ambassadors or high commissioners about their activities as they directly report to the respective ministries which assigned them the work.
In the light of practices followed by the other Asian countries, the foreign ministry in its report proposed to stop compartmentalization and make the process coordinated.
