Bangladesh looks at the initiatives under the Indo-Pacific concept primarily from a development point of view and thus considers them “complementary – not competing or contradictory”, foreign minister Dr AK Abdul Momen said.
“The concept of Indo-Pacific Ocean would help Bangladesh to improve its connectivity and investment climate, promote blue economy as well as strengthening measures against terrorism and other organised crimes in the maritime sphere,” he said while speaking at a conference in Dhaka on Sunday.
The Centre for Bay of Bengal Studies of the Independent University organised the conference titled ‘Connectivity in the Indo-Pacific (Ocean) Reconnecting peoples, facilitating human development for prosperity of all from the Bay of Bengal’.
Japanese ambassador Ito Naoki, Indian High Commissioner in Dhaka Vikram Doraiswami, Secretary General of BIMSTEC Ambassador Tenzin Lekphell, Director for Centre for Bay of Bengal Studies Ambassador Tariq A. Karim, and vice-chancellor of the Independent University Prof Tanweer Hasan were present at the conference, among others.
The foreign minister said the Indian Ocean is rich in untapped natural resources, with some of the world’s largest reserves of gas and other seabed minerals, as well as, it is increasingly believed, about the presence of oil.
“Linking the Indian and Pacific Oceans, the Bay of Bengal occupies a central position in relation to global economic flows in a way that few other regions do,” he said.
“As a strategic funnel to the Malacca Straits and Lombok Strait, the region has been an important location in the strategic calculations of the great powers of the world and has grown in strategic importance for China and Japan, and India as well.
“This is primarily due to the fact that half of the world’s container traffic passes and whose ports handle approximately thirty percent of world trade thus becoming the ‘economic highway of the world’.”
“Despite its status as a key maritime role in global terms and all its economic promise, its potential is hamstrung by a lack of close internal economic integration among the countries that call the region home,” he said.
Many countries in the region even lack sufficient information and infrastructures about sea fish resources, their exploitation and sustenance, he said.
“The prospects for conflict and or cooperation in this region are affected by multidimensional factors. A variety of transnational threats like trafficking of narcotics, drugs, weapons and people; the illegal exploitation of natural resources; border disputes, refugee flows, rebel insurgencies and terrorist groups or natural disasters that disrupt regional stability compound the challenge of making the Indian Ocean integrated.”
“What is needed is the application of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).”
He said Bangladesh may “broaden and deepen our alliance cooperation and encourage the possible economic and security engagement with the littoral states under the umbrella of the Indian Ocean Rim Association of which we would be taking over as the Chair this year and at the same time strengthen Bangladesh’s Comprehensive and Strategic partnership with other countries which are also vital for both to pursue extensive bilateral interests.
“Bangladesh, under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina- an avid follower of pragmatism, has embarked on an ambitious plan to achieve its long-cherished goals engraved in its Vision 2021 and Vision 2041,” said the minister.
World’s center for politics and economics
The foreign minister said the world’s centre of political and economic gravity is moving eastwards to Asia and Africa.
The importance of Indian Ocean or the Bay of Bengal need no reiteration especially for many countries whose existence, prosperity and security were, and always will be, intimately linked to it.
Estimates of density vary with the maximum of over 41000 ships passing over the Malacca Strait areas in a year and to the non-seafarer, such a figure, promotes a view of a dangerously unregulated, overcrowded shipping movements/environments, he said.
Collisions and grounding continue to be a very real threat to ships here and in other areas of high traffic density. Maritime piracy remains a comparatively low key but a very real problem in several parts of the world, particularly in Somalia and Southeast Asia.
The region is also witness to 70 percent of the world’s natural disasters.
Countries in Asia and the Pacific are four times more likely to be affected by a natural catastrophe than those in Africa, and 25 times more vulnerable than Europe or North America.
“Devising a comprehensive strategy for one of the most diverse, complex, and contested regions in the world is by no means an easy task, and no individual or organisation can comprehensively predict the best ways to grapple with Indo-Pacific Ocean strategy in the near future with pinpoint accuracy,” said the foreign minister.
“Indo-Pacific ocean construct may be governed by peace and prosperity of the Region focusing on socio-economic development of the region to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
“It should also ensure establishing a meaningful relationship with the other countries in the Indo Pacific to promote accelerated technological change in order to explore and exploit the oceanic resources to empower the youth and women; promote sustainable and equitable growth and decent employment in the region,” he said.
“As a laboratory for cooperation, the Indian Ocean has seen many successes. This is due largely to the fact that the Indian Ocean’s strategic importance derives from its economics.
“Due to the economic significance of this region, countries increasingly share a common interest in keeping the sea lanes open and safe.
“When piracy in the western Indian Ocean threatened to disrupt the stability of these waterways more than a decade ago, we witnessed a multinational response to secure them. Counter-piracy operations emerged.
“In addition to counter-piracy, search and rescue is another area where countries have cooperated-for example, in the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370,” he said.
“Beyond military operations, countries have pursued Indian Ocean seabed mineral exploration rights lawfully through the International Seabed Authority.
“The role of international law in the Indian Ocean has also been bolstered by the use of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea and the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) to resolve maritime disputes between Bangladesh, India, and Myanmar.
“To improve the overall maritime challenges in the Indian Ocean and to readily respond to any maritime challenges at sea, an effective Information Exchange network may be considered and agreed in the first case by all the member states to ensure freedom and safety of navigation, real time sharing of information on Search and Rescue at sea, sharing of warning information about weather/cyclone/Tsunami, fisheries infringements and other living resources, high Seas robbery, piracy and other suspicious activity including arms/drug smuggling, accidental/incidental oil spills, marine pollution from all sources.
“A cooperative mechanism focuses on opportunities versus threats, on optimism over fear and on confidence instead of doubt,” the foreign minister said.
“:It recognises the challenges imposed by the uncertain conditions in time of rapid change and makes pro-active assistance and disaster response crucial elements to building relationships across nations.
“If there is a clear quest for more cultural, economic, politics and even strategic emancipation from the large foreign powers and among the regional organisations, this does necessarily mean that a wide and dynamic regional cooperation may be successfully developed as normally expected but real efforts as suggested here can probably change the real structure of the affectivity of any multilateral existing organizations operating in the Indian Ocean.
“We look forward to having a new world with more cooperation and connections for responding to the challenges,” he said.
