Bangladesh won't fall into Chinese debt trap, says Foreign Minister Momen

Bangladesh will not fall into the so-called Chinese debt trap as the volume of its loan from China is not that big, said Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Saturday.

He said it while responding to a question from newsmen after the Branding Bangladesh conference in the city.

Replying to a question on the Chinese debt trap issue, the minister said, a country needs to take 40 per cent of its debt from a particular source to be in the debt trap.

In this context, the minister informed that Bangladesh’s loan from China is only around 5 per cent. "And that is why the possibility of being in the Chinese debt trap is far away," the foreign minister said.

He also said that the notion propagated by some 'ignorant people' that Bangladesh is becoming the tail of China as it procures 80 per cent of its defence equipment from that country is a 'blatant lie'.

Bangladesh purchases defence equipment from all many countries including India, he said, adding that Bangladesh's military knows what to purchase from where.

Regarding a question on sanction issue, he said that the allegation about human rights against Bangladesh is not the real cause, rather taking benefit from Bangladesh's strategic position and its access to sea is instrumental behind the recent attempts to malign the country.

Bangladesh is surrounded by some big countries and access to sea has become a big concern for them, he argued.

"Bangladesh has become eyesore of some due to its good strategic position. And their real purpose is to reap benefits by putting pressure on the country," the foreign minister said.

He also categorically denied the allegations of enforced disappearance by security forces.

"There is no such word in our country for enforced disappearance and we do not want that anybody will be taken away by force," he said.

"Sometimes terrorist groups do that and this happens in all the countries of the world," he mentioned.

Earlier, addressing the Branding Bangladesh conference, organised by the Centre for Non Resident Bangladehis, Dr Momen said that economic diplomacy was the key focus of his ministry.

The foreign ministry has started to gear up drive to lure foreign investment and to promote Bangladesh products to the world, he noted.

"We wish to connect the real-time market opportunities with a solid financial feedback loop. We wish to connect the agile minds and the nimble hands of the Bangladesh youth - men and women - to the global supply solutions" said the minister.

"We want to connect the factors of production seamlessly to their optimal consumption and reduce our dependence on inefficient intermediaries. We wish to find our complementarities with global corporates in a way that is congenial to our governance, economic and environmental ambitions," he stated.

On branding, he said, branding is an essential sub-component of Economic Diplomacy and his ministry is pursuing a very consolidated approach towards the economic domain of diplomacy in recent times.

"The approach is multi-pronged, multi-spatial and multi-temporal. We have been working with the relevant ministries and investment promotion bodies," he further stated.

"We have been engaging the federations and other trade bodies both within the country and also the bilateral joint forums; and last but not the least, we have established a dedicated cell for international trade, investment and technology inside the Foreign Office to coordinate our domestic and foreign endeavours for better results," he added.

Economic Advisor to the Prime Minister Dr Mashiur Rahman, State Minister for Planning Dr Shamsul Alam, Chief of Staff of Bangladesh Army General S M Shafiuddin Ahmed, Mayor of Croydon, UK, Cllr. Sherwan Chowdhury, physician of the Prime Minister Dr. A B M Abdullah, Director General of BMET Md Shahidul Alam, General Manager of Bangladesh Bank Kazi Rafiqul Hassan, among others, spoke at the event with the Chairperson of the Center for Non Resident Bangladeshis in the chair.

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