'Bangladesh govt has carefully avoided polarisation narratives'

The Business Standard spoke to Shahab Enam Khan, Fulbright professor at the Department of Political Science and International Relations, University of Delaware, to understand the recently announced Indo-Pacific Outlook's significance and its potential impact on Bangladesh's larger diplomatic ties

On 24 April, Bangladesh unveiled its 15-point Indo-Pacific Outlook (IPO). Do you see any significance to this move ahead of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's tri-nation visit?    

The Bangladesh government has recently revealed the country's Indo-Pacific Outlook (IPO), which is a commendable job as this is the first document it can now exhibit as its geopolitical perspective regarding the vast Indo-Pacific region.

This IPO will help Bangladesh build confidence among the Western governments. And the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has disclosed the country's long-due IPO ahead of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's visit to Japan, which too has its own IPO. I hope Bangladesh's move will be appreciated by the Western allies, including Japan. Now, they will take note of the document and look forward to how Bangladesh executes or translates its IPO into reality. 

Since China keeps itself separate from the US-led Indo-Pacific policymaking, do you think Bangladesh's IPO will be a concern for China? 

There are several state parties, and apparently the US allies have already published their IPOs. Hence, a question will be raised as to how China — a big development partner of Bangladesh — will react upon the latest IPO from a strategically important country. 

So far, there seem to be no conflicting issues that could directly oppose mutual trust, respect, bilateral treaties, or shared economic prosperity among the Indo-Pacific nations. The Bangladesh government has carefully avoided polarisation narratives while presenting its IPO. So, I believe no country should have reservations with Bangladesh's IPO.   

What challenges lie ahead for Bangladesh in executing this IPO? 

The document still seems like a wish list from the Bangladesh government. 

My prediction is that Bangladesh will face challenges in execution of the IPO because of the fluid geopolitical situation. 

The entire world is going through a difficult time. Many of us refer to this time as a new cold war due to the Russia-Ukraine War, tensions over Taiwan and so on. So, execution of Bangladesh's IPO will be critical. 

Since the document is still generic and developed based on multilateral visions, Bangladesh cannot execute this IPO alone. A critical path lies ahead because there is a risk of polarisation. 

To address the challenges, Bangladesh needs a more specific and concrete strategy to carefully balance between its national interests: economic growth, security and overall development, and international cooperation. Supporting its IPO, Bangladesh nonetheless needs to expose its clear understanding about the future of regional and global sustainability with prosperity.