Foreign Adviser Touhid Hossain today said maintaining good ties with three powers — India, China and the United States — and addressing the Rohingya issue are among the government’s top priorities in 2025.
He also said that no single issue will hinder the Dhaka-Delhi ties.
“Resolving the Rohingya crisis, maintaining good relations with the three important countries and creating a more stable position on economic and diplomatic fronts are the priorities,” he said while talking to reporters at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Asked what will be the impact on Dhaka-Delhi ties if India refuses to return former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, Touhid said the two countries have many bilateral issues and this is just one of them.
“We have many issues of mutual interest. We will deal with those simultaneously,” said the adviser.
On December 23, Dhaka sent a diplomatic letter (note verbale) to Delhi seeking the extradition of Hasina. The interim government is yet to receive a reply from the Indian side.
Meanwhile, the foreign adviser said he would pay a visit to China on January 20 to discuss bilateral issues.
“Our relationship with all the three countries [India, China, US] is important. I am going there on China’s invitation,” he said.
Touhid, however, did not go into details about the issues to be discussed during his visit to China.
He said Foreign Secretary Md Jashim Uddin has convened an inter-ministerial meeting to fix the agenda.
TIES WITH INDIA, CHINA, US
Touhid said maintaining strong ties with India, China and the United States are Bangladesh’s priorities.
“We want good relations with our neighbour. We want good relations with the United States. We also want good relations with China,” he said, referring to mutual interest Bangladesh shares with these three countries.
Touhid hoped that ties with these countries will improve and strengthen by the end of the year.
Touhid said the country can expect better days as some sort of stability has returned to Bangladesh after the recent turmoil.
He also said things will become smoother in terms of economic and foreign relations.
Touhid said the Rohingya issue will be very challenging considering the ground reality. He said their aim is to make sure the Rohingyas can return to Myanmar with safety and dignity.
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