The new US Ambassador in Dhaka, Marcia Bernicat , while visiting Prothom Alo on Tuesday in her first interview to a Bangladeshi media, spoke at length on various issues centering the US-Bangladesh relations. She was interviewed by Prothom Alo’s Consulting Editor, Kamal Ahmed .
Prothom Alo: How would you describe the relationship between Bangladesh and the United States since the last bilateral dialogue held in October 2013?
Marcia Bernicat : If you look at the activity, as a measure of how the relationship looks today compared to October, you can see that there has been rush of visits from all walks of life. We had five assistant secretaries visit here which is pretty unprecedented in bilateral relationships. We had also senior military officials coming here. We had General Bilton, deputy commander of the US Army; he left the country last week. These are few examples.
We had few exchange programs as well. I think the relationship is rather strengthened and grown much stronger than last October. And these periodic dialogues give us the chance to focus on those issues we want to work on. It’s a good mechanism.
Prothom Alo: But there is a perception of political unease between these two countries since the 5 January elections. But since the October bilateral dialogue the issue seems to be a closed chapter. You have mentioned about several visits taking place suggesting improvement in relations. But, is there any discussion going on, in private regarding this political difference or has it been totally forgotten?
Marcia Bernicat: I would say, regarding the election, our position is clear. We made our views known many times in that effect, but the one I would like to focus on is that we are all looking forward right now. I think the discussion is to look for a dialogue.
Prothom Alo : Before signing of TICFA a common belief in this country was that it will help reversal of the GSP suspension, which hasn’t happened yet. Does Washington recognise the fact that it caused a serious disappointment in this country?
Marcia Bernicat: I think the fact that the disappointment and dismay over the GSP decision was not wrong for the Washington. Unfortunately, the TICFA and GSP ruling are not linked that way. The suspension of GSP privilege has everything to do with our concern for workers’ safety and workers’ rights following the Rana Plaza incident. However, there has been tremendous progress in last two years on the part of the government of Bangladesh and the industry. The US has a strong and pivotal role to play. But, I am fond of saying that nowhere else in the world, the host government, its partners, industry, workers’ union, and the buyers—all joining forces to address the issue that led to Rana Plaza collapse and looking to help the Bangladesh industry, already one of the leading industries in the world, become stronger by addressing these concerns. So there is unprecedented energy towards helping Bangladesh resolve these issues. The restoration of GSP privilege is really linked to addressing all those of concerns. And TICFA is for much broader investment and trade relationship and there we talk about how do we improve that trade; how do we increase; and how do we remove these barriers to trades that should be coming in the way. I said trade but investment is also a key piece. But the GSP decision is really based on level of progress made in the sector. We are pleased that there have been progress but some specific issues need to be addressed especially on labour rights. Registration of unions, a good transparent website and a structure within the ministry of labour to support these labour rights issues, especially to those which are still unresolved, be it through mediation.
Prothom Alo: But is it true? The sticking point was over union rights in export processing zones rather than the whole country?
Marcia Bernicat: It would be inaccurate. It’s really about the whole country. There are ongoing reports that the people who are organising or have organised unions, facing harassment in and off their work places. Nothing has been done or resolved. People should be able to report that they have been harassed or fired and those issues have been redressed. And we do not see those mechanisms being put in place. Another significant step will be completing and publishing the rules and regulations, and writing the revised labour acts. We have been urging the government to release those rules and regulations.
Prothom Alo: What are the common complaints you hear from US investors about investing in Bangladesh.
Marcia Bernicat: I will tell you, I have been in service for 34 years and I’ve never worked in such a country that has such vibrant commercial interest. I worked in India when Manmohan Sign was the finance minister who was then instigating reforms. And without those reforms things would have been different today. I talked to a number of investment companies. I had two rounds of meeting with US before I came here. I asked them if Bangladesh was the most difficult environment to work in but nobody raised their hands. And I found that encouraging. But, immediately after, they added that there are significant challenges working in Bangladesh that I often call the governance challenges.
You know, the rules and regulations, access to dispute resolution. You know the whole issue of transparency and pragmatic gigantic infrastructure, especially, energy and transportation. The government is addressing those issues. And also I suspect, this question is present in every country to some degree. I heard investors in US complaining about it in last month on how we navigate through the bureaucracy and government regulations and how many software you need to make the day you went on investment and related data.
Prothom Alo: Going back to the political questions. Some observers say that the relationships between the two countries are much closer and deeper in security issues rather than in other areas. Is it a fair description of the state of the relationship?
Marcia Bernicat: Absolutely not. It’s true that our security relationships are amazingly vibrant and very visible. We have exercises going on, we have trainings going on. It’s very visible that may lead to such perception. But, I can’t think of an area that we are not working on, may be space. But even then, NASA is helping Bangladesh more accurately in mapping forest areas and deforestation. So, I can’t think of an area where we are not cooperating. I love using the word ‘partnership’ when I talk about bilateral relations because whether I am talking to folks of military or talking to my colleague at USAID or talking to the department of justice. Inevitably, people not just talk about what a great place it is they are working on but there is also the the quality of cooperation that we enjoy working with one another.
The people are enthusiastic about what we do and how we do together, not just to help the US, but collectively. This is the real and credible piece. I can’t just tell you how much people talked about what the US gain from relationship with Bangladesh. There have ancient example on the fact that Oral rehydration solution (ORS) created here by a Bangladeshi as a part of the USAID project, saves lives around the world, that Bangladesh gave to the world through our cooperation but I come with very recent example now. We have police from Portland Oregon. We have a partnership with National Guard Oregon, who would be here for training. Guess, what they are training on? It is police and community policing. In here they had gained better understanding on Islam and that helped them in working with other minority communities in Portland because of the knowledge they got about religion and culture.
Prothom Alo: Can I then elude you to another issue which is related to Rapid Action Battalion (RAB)? US government now officially does not support RAB because of accusations on human right issues and abuses and lack of transparency and accountability. When this issue was raised with the Bangladeshi authorities, the foreign minister famously said the force has been raised with the assistance of the Western governments especially by the US and UK and probably their guidance was wrong?
Marcia Bernicat: Well can I just tell you two things. First, the concept of Rapid Action Battalion itself especially one that, you know, meant for fighting terrorism and other transnational crime, which are particularly heinous and particularly difficult for a sovereign government to work on in a bit of good principle.
And, we still work with RAB. Actually, the US is doing it in a very specific way. We are helping RAB set up an internal investigative unit. Any agency of a government that causes fear among its citizenry, it’s failing at its job ultimately. Doesn’t it? If you and I, an example I emphasise equally applicable for both of us as a citizen of our own countries, am more frightened of a policeman when he shows upon my doorstep, because I am afraid I am going to be unfairly arrested or taken away on the night or teased or killed, then that institution has failed me as a citizen of United States. And so it’s not just the existence of RAB it’s what does RAB do? How does it do? And when Individual actors do wrong, are they accountable?
Whenever the US police officers or law enforcers or FBI use force, they have specific rules to use force. If they use force, they have to explain why they did it. And it is investigated. If they use force which sounds to be inappropriate, they have be to be accountable for that.
That is what we urge in our discussions with the Bangladeshi government, that it happen here in Bangladesh as well. It was very welcome to see the news very recently that there have been a breakthrough in the Narayanganj incident, that people have been investigated.
Prothom Alo: Little bit earlier you mentioned cooperation in all aspects of the relationship. Would it be fair to hope that it can extend up to Bangladeshi’s ambitions to launch a satellite?
Marcia Bernicat: Why not. It’s very interesting I would say that , perhaps the better model, actually the fact that, even NASA is privatising a lot of our activities in the space at the moment. I can not imagine that there are no enterprising Bangladeshi out there who would be at the forefront of private space related industry here in the country. And that is an exciting prospect.
Prothom Alo: Some people say that Washington in recent years has been giving much more importance in its relationship with India at the expense of the other south Asian neighbours. That’s why some of the issues that should have been treated with greater importance in bilateral relationships with smaller nations in South Asia are being ignored. Isn’t it true that the US government has failed to accept that criticism?
Marcia Bernicat: You know having work with on south Asia, not only on US and India relations but also Nepal, Srilanka and now Bangladesh, I would say that during the period of expansion in the United States, we are working hard to improve relations with all the countries of south Asia, as It should be. I think that to say that single out or prioritise India would be wrong. I think that we talk about breath of relations, there’s been awaful lot that they are working on with India right now. But to suggest a government to government relation is only emphasis would be really misleading. Its truely is. First of all its astounding thing of fact is that our people to people ties are older, more important and and vastly outnumber the things we do as governments. That’s right. Governments have limited capacity and limited bandwidth and everything Bangladesh does with us it also, presuming , do with some other nations of the world too. We have five hundred thousands Bangladeshis living in America according to last census, , I am sure, we have more than that now and at least fifty thousand American Bangladeshis or Americans living in Bangladesh, plus all those people studying and have studied in the US and come back here drive our relations day in and day out . The number of private donors who give money vastly outstrips what we provide to Bangladesh in our informal aid programmes, as it should be. I think it would be very defeating to say that the US favoured or disadvantaged Bangladesh’s relationship.
Prothom Alo: If I ask you to name one irritant which adversely affects our relationship, can you do that?
Marcia Bernicat: I would say that’s a tricky question. But, I will tell you this, are there irritants? Bet, there are. Do they hamper our relation? I don’t think so. I think that is one of the signs of how strong our relations are.
We have the strongest foundations in our relationship. We have very important shared value. DNA, I am very fond of saying this that Democracy is in Bangladesh’s DNA, so is in American DNA. We have people protest when we don’t like certain things. You know that’s very Important points. A key area in which we have challenges or we have tougher conversations is on human rights, it goes back to disappearance and extrajudicial killings things of this nature.
But, the government of Bangladesh does not say we are not going to talk about this, we aren’t going to work on these things. These things happen in our relationships. We have such conversations with many of our friends. So we need to work with Bangladesh. I think it would be an irritant if it stops, things stop moving. We talk on things like how do we improve? We send police to USA for training. So, I dont think you can call that an irritant? But we have some tough conversations sometimes.
Prothom Alo: We were told in February this year that Secretary Kerry will be visiting Bangladesh soon. Is it happening?
Marcia Bernicat: To my knowledge not yet. If you notice our secretary, you will see that he is a very hands on diplomat. He has focused on so many initiatives. he focused his energy well in Middle East, to work specifically with Iran. He said to your foreign minister that “I want to come to Bangladesh.” But as far as I know it would be tough on his schedule.
Prothom Alo: You and some other envoys met BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia just after an arrest warrant was issued against her. Tension eased within few days after that meeting and city corporation elections are now taking place. Many observers suggested that behind the scene negotiations led to the BNP’s participation in city elections. Is it true or have you played any role in it?
Marcia Bernicat: No, I don’t know about negotiations but you know many likeminded countries and friends of Bangladesh were very worried about violence and the senseless deaths recorded in this winter . We reached out to both the leaders and had extensive discussions out of our concerns that these rising tension and deaths are so detrimental to individuals of Bangladesh and also to the country. You know that threat ofinstability and so we expressed our concerns and we expressed hope that the both side would be able to find the means to de-escalate the tensions and move the vital discussion of their differences back in to the political space and going back to democratic rule. That is the role we played and expressing our hope and desire on both sides. The timing wasn’t based on the arrest warrant. I understand that there has been news of an arrest warrant. But we’re pleased to have those discussions and urged that both the sides look forward to ways to de-escalate. We are very heartened that the city corporation elections is taking place and the democratic process is once again back into the political space.
Prothom Alo: It is well understood unless a general election takes place sooner before 2019, this political crisis will continue to affect the country. Do you see that possibility emerging after city elections?
Marcia Bernicat: You know that is entirely up to the Bangladeshi people. I wouldn’t even speculate, you know, it is not our place, not for your friends. If Bangladeshis want election sooner and they make that known that is fine. But if they accept the current mandate runs its course, that is fine too.
I think what is important is that if there are concerns about your various different issues, fundamentally the way elections are run and managed, that there be a way to resolve those differences with those concerns out and work on the solutions ideally together. So that there is a trust and confidence in everything related the elections before it occurs so that it occurs with full participation of candidates out there and able to campaign and everyone on their confidence in the resolves truly reflecting the will of the Bangladeshi people.
Prothom Alo : This question keeps coming back because after 5th January elections most of the Western countries called for a new election. But it seems that you are not repeating that call anymore. Why?
Marcia Bernicat: You know know the expression that was then and this is now. I don’t have to be flippant, you know, a year on, with all the events that have transpired, you now need to be looking forward . What do the Bangladeshi people want? Anyone looses the sight of that misses the side of the true issue. How to get to know what the people want? How do you make ensure that the institution and the process is responsive to that.
Prothom Alo: Where do you see the relationship between the two countries when you are end your assignment here?
Marcia Bernicat: That’s really a good question. I will tell you that. Before I came out here I was involved helping trainee ambassadors. That was an exercise we put them through. What you want to able to say about your tenure when you are leaving the country. So, what I like to say, first of all, we continue to play our robust role as your supporter and partner and helping Bangladesh to reach middle income status. And Bangladesh understands that it’s not going to happen through aid, though aid had been playing very important part, but through trade and commerce, through industry. I would love to be able to say that our trade has increased substantially, I wouldn’t put a number on it today, and two-way investment has increased substantially over time that Bangladesh exports. We are already your number one consumer in the world. We are proud of that. But I would love to be able to say at the end of my tenure that export to the United States and each other’s areas increase. And I certainly would be able to say because my President and my Secretary of State have made a key objective to every ambassador to promote US export as well. I want to be saying that the Bangladeshis are buying more and more American products and finding them useful. You know consumer products like toothpaste.
Prothom Alo : Heavy engineering equipment?
Marcia Bernicat: Oh no, lets go beyond heavy engineering like planes and military equipment. I want to expand our market in all of those areas as well. We have developed even closer collaboration on climate issues. I saw a Bangladeshi expert. I am sorry , I have to find him because I loved tt have some conversation. He talked about Bangladesh being a cannery of coal mine for climate change that there already things happening in this county to people because of climate change, increase salanisation in rice fields. People are moving away from the areas no longer productive because of climate change. He very proudly said that we want to be able to help the world learn how to mitigate these problems and also to adapt to them. So it seems to me we have a willing partner for whom this is not a theoretical issue, this is a issue of now. We already know that very helpful role Bangladesh plays in world forum. In the Paris summit coming up is really important exercise. I am so proud that the United States and China have stood up and said, we are committed to reduce emissions. But every nation has a role to play now. And so fact that every nation will find those markers commit to. I know Bangladesh would be out there pushing for that. And so what others the lessons and What other tasks able to point to, two or three year down the line or so, these were the thing we did together to help mitigate the climate change. I also talk about how the status of women evolved and continued to improve here in Bangladesh. Isn’t it a great story that the industries propelling Bangladesh into middle income status are doing so because of the work of women and the marginal section. I dont want to short change their male counterparts’ contribution but I think the vast majority of people who are making their pay role are women. The fact that it has given them a degree of financial independence and given them ability to contribute financially to their families and community it’s huge. What other issues out there helps strengthen them to continue to make sure they can have access to health care and family planning and make sure they have the choice as girls and mother of a girl their children can have access to as much education as they can and make contribution to their countries, to their neighbourhood, to their families, and to themselves. And of course as we have been watching reaction to the events they said that happened on Pahela Baishakh and that woman can’t move round safely in this country. I don’t know no country in the world where women haven’t been harassed. I don’t know any woman in my 62 years who had not experienced harassment me included. It happens. But no one has to apologise for the way they dress or they move around in public. They shouldbe able to move around in safety and with the respect that any human being do. And so anything that I can contribute to those issues and be able to point to, not to what I have done, but what can be achieved with our help.
You know I point that pride often to the fact that the Economist, not just any publication, talks about what Bangladesh has achieved in the last decade. So more advances in health, especially in health, more achievements in the millennium development challenges than any other country ever done in the human history and the closest example come up with was that advances made in Japan in 18th century. This is extraordinary. We are so proud of having been a small part of that story and if we can add something to that story, to that accomplishment.
I am excited to see that.
Source: Prothom Alo
