NO MILITARY ARMS TRADE WITH ESWATINI, SAYS BANGLADESH

MBABANE – The Republic of Bangladesh is looking to increase its bilateral trade with the Kingdom of Eswatini to US$25 million (about E425 million) in the next three years.

Currently, the trade between the two countries is at US$3 million (about E51 million) a year. These figures were revealed by the State Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh, Mohammed Shahriar Alam, during an interview on Wednesday, as part of his two-day official visit to Eswatini. However, Alam, who was hosted for dinner by locally-based Bangladesh businessman Asraful Alam Chowdhury (Mansur), made it clear that there would be no trade in arms and any other form of military equipment between the two countries.

Eswatini is presently facing political unrest that has seen State security forces engaged in confrontation with armed groups and, therefore, any visit to the country by a high-ranking politician of a foreign country raises anticipation on whether this could have to do with military assistance.

Arrival

The recent visit by Russia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Sergey Lavrov raised such expectations, especially because as a build up to his arrival, Russian Ambassador to Eswatini Alexander Surikov said they were ready to assist the kingdom in strengthening its security and armed force. Lavrov’s visit culminated in Russia and Eswatini agreeing to increase security cooperation, and Moscow stating that it was ready to consider Eswatini’s applications on any issues that needed to be resolved to ensure the security of the State. With Bangladesh though, Minister Alam said Eswatini did not make any approach for military cooperation in that respect.

The minister said military cooperation was something they definitely welcomed but for their country’s own defence.
“What we meant is that we do not want to be seen as a country who wants to be a military power or a super power for the region or kind of have any ambition as such. We want to use our military strength to spread peace and maintain peace and that’s why we are the largest contributor in UN peace-keeping missions. In that area we want to increase cooperation,” he said.

Approached

Alam said they had been approached by South Africa and they would be having high level visits among themselves, while Nigeria had sent their officers to Bangladeshi’s National Defence College, which he described as an institution of excellence and invited officers from the Southern Africa region, including Eswatini, to come to for purposes of brightening and sharpening their knowledge.

“It’s not physical military training but more of intellectual side of affairs to war and peace. We have short courses; we have one-year long courses. Most of our senior government officers are trained there as well, officers of non-military responsibility also. And this is a fantastic institution and all the participants get to know not just Bangladeshi, but many other countries and they get to interact with each other.  So, Bangladesh wants to excel and share the softer skill of defence with the friendly countries such as Eswatini,” the minister said.

Alam reiterated there was no military quantification involved between Eswatini and Bangladesh as there won’t be any buying and selling. He said from Bangladeshi’s side, there is only intellectual and theoretical part of defence related affairs that would be availed to Eswatini, including the provision and extending of scholarships.

Capacity

“We are not looking at arms trade or military transactions as such. But for the businesses, our bilateral trade is only US$3 million import and export. Last year we exported U$55 billion as a country to the rest of the world. So we have some capacity surely. We are looking to increase that US$3 million and we would be happy if we can take it to US$25 million in the next three years,” the Bangladeshi minister stated. He said as a country they pursued a foreign policy of friendship to all and at the same time they we practiced a policy of non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries.

In that regard, he said, they did not even comment or act on others’ internal affairs. He said Bangladeshi believed that a government and its people needed to stay in close cooperation with each other because they should always be working together to fight poverty and create employment opportunities for the future and present generation of young people.

Experience

Alam said as far he knew, through experience, unrest in a country has never benefitted anyone. “We all need to prosper and give the fellow countrymen a decent lifestyle. The government and people need to work together. I’m not aware of your own internal challenges but we are aware of our own challenges and an unrest never helped in our case and has never helped in any other country; that can only take the country backwards. So, government and the people need to stay close for the greater benefit all,” the minister said.

He then, on behalf of Bangladeshi President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, wished His Majesty King Mswati III good health and continued prosperity. He recalled that His Majesty met with Prime Minister (PM) Hasina in Kigali, Rwanda, during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) back in June 2022.

Gratitude

“His Majesty also wrote to our president after a fire incident in Bangladesh in recent times. And also the prime minister of Eswatini expressed his gratitude when we sent some help during the time of the COVID-19 pandemic. We sent some masks and protective gears. It was very well received and that resulted in some visits and exchanges,” Alam said.

The minister noted that the entire world was going through two challenging periods; the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, disturbances that no country was immune to hence the need for closer cooperation in order to reduce the shockwaves. The minister left the country of Thursday and indicated that he would be making his next stop in Botswana, where he was also on official visit.

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