France seeks deeper Bangladesh ties without excluding other partners
France, Europe, we never say to Bangladesh, 'you choose between us and them'. We build partnership. Partnership is not excluding. It is involving, French Ambassador to Bangladesh Jean-Marc Séré-Charlet says.
France does not want Bangladesh to choose between Europe and its other partners and is ready to strengthen engagement with Dhaka, French Ambassador to Bangladesh Jean-Marc Séré-Charlet said today (22 September).
"France, Europe, we never say to Bangladesh, 'you choose between us and them'. We build partnership. Partnership is not excluding. It is involving," he said at the "DCAB Talk", organised by the Diplomatic Correspondents Association, Bangladesh (DCAB) at the Jatiya Press Club.
DCAB President AKM Moinuddin and General Secretary Emrul Kayesh also spoke at the event. On Bangladesh's plan to purchase Airbus aircraft, Séré-Charlet said Biman Bangladesh Airlines chose Airbus for technical and business reasons, not political considerations.
Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel
"Biman has chosen Airbus" for "very good and technical reasons", he said, adding that negotiations between Biman and Airbus are continuing and may take time as both sides want to complete the process carefully.
"I can assure you that the negotiation has been going on and very well," he said, adding that details of the technical discussions could not be disclosed just yet.
The envoy said the Airbus deal would also be a test for the present government. "Wait some time, some days, and we'll see what happens, but things are going well," he said.
Europe seeks long-term partnership
Séré-Charlet said Bangladesh's engagement with Europe could expand through areas including a possible free trade agreement (FTA) and aviation cooperation.
The EU has signed FTAs with several countries, including Vietnam, India, Australia and Canada, but Bangladesh is not among them, he said.
"So if you want to be more on the map, if you want Europe to engage, you have to show the interest of engaging in the long-term partnership. That's why Airbus matters," he said.
He pointed to Bangladesh's strong trade ties with Europe, particularly through the readymade garment sector, and highlighted cooperation with French companies in high-technology sectors.
"We believe in partnership. We want to create a true partnership, a long-standing partnership," he said, adding that France and Europe were "not in an exclusion mode".
'Reliable, predictable' partner
Séré-Charlet described France as a "long-standing, reliable, predictable, and benevolent" partner of Bangladesh, saying both countries support cooperation over confrontation, multilateralism and peace.
He said France is a secular country that respects all religions, including Islam, maintains longstanding ties with the Arab and Muslim world, and supports the Palestinian people.
France also shares interests with Bangladesh as the only EU member state that is a major power in the Indo-Pacific, where around 2 million French citizens live, he said.
Séré-Charlet said France seeks to promote a multilateral "third way" amid growing rivalry between the US and China, with strategic autonomy, maritime security and stability in the Indian Ocean at its core.
"We need the countries that share the same values and goals (peaceful international relations) to be more assertive and more proactive, to cooperate more, and to demonstrate, through their example, the effectiveness of this model," he said.
He also pointed to France's growing rapprochement with Canada and other countries, saying the process was driven by economic and business interests as well as geopolitics. "I believe that Franco-Bangladeshi relations have great potential," he said.
