The Bangladesh interim government foreign affairs adviser, Md Touhid Hossain, on Wednesday, said maintaining good relations with three big countries - India, China and the United States- and addressing the Rohingya issue was among the priorities in 2025, stressing that Dhaka鈥檚 ties with Delhi will advance going beyond a single issue.
鈥楻esolving the Rohingya crisis, maintaining good relationships with the three important countries and creating a more stable position on economic and diplomatic fronts are the priorities,鈥� he said while talking to reporters at foreign affairs ministry.
When a journalist wanted to know about the impact on Bangladesh-India relations if Dhaka鈥檚 request for extradition of deposed Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina remains unaddressed, Touhid said this was one of the issues and the two countries had many bilateral issues.
鈥業 think both will continue simultaneously. We have many issues of mutual interest. We will advance with all these issues side by side,鈥� said the adviser.
Dhaka is expecting a reply from India regarding its request for Hasina鈥檚 extradition and is supposed to send a reminder after a certain period if no reply is received from New Delhi.
The Indian external affairs ministry received a diplomatic letter from Bangladesh 10 days ago. The interim government will take the next step based on the reply from the Indian side. Foreign adviser Hossain said he would pay a bilateral visit to China soon to discuss the issues between the two countries.
鈥極ur relationship with three (India, China, US) countries is important. As China has invited me, I am going there to discuss the issues that we have,鈥� 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 convened an inter-ministerial meeting where they would fix the achievable areas and what they would seek.
The foreign adviser said Bangladesh attached priority to India, China and the United States in terms of its relations.
鈥榃e want good relations with our neighbour. We want good relations with the United States. We also want good relations with China,鈥� he said, referring to mutual interest with these three important countries.
At the end of this year, Touhid said, they would hopefully be able to say that Bangladesh鈥檚 relations with these countries have developed and strengthened further.
Touhid hoped that the New Year would bring good things for the country as there was a kind of stability now as the country passed through a changed situation amid uncertainty.
He also said things would become smoother in terms of economic and foreign relations.
Touhid said the Rohingya issue would be very challenging considering the ground reality but resolving the Rohingya crisis remains a priority.
He said they aimed to make sure the Rohingyas could return to Myanmar with safety and dignity.