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Chief of army staff General SM Shafiuddin Ahmed on Thursday said that Bangladesh was engaged with Myanmar and was on right track in the present situation.

Addressing a seminar in the city as chief guest, he said that Bangladesh wanted to keep friendly relations with all countries and the army was doing everything to contribute to achieving the foreign policy.

‘We have our engagement with Myanmar…We are doing our best and we are on right track,’ Shafiuddin said, regarding relation with civil war-torn Myanmar that shares border with Bangladesh. 

Explaining the situation, he said that all had to keep in mind that there were sanctions on senior military officials of Myanmar and there was a risk of getting in trouble being involved with them.

‘To make one friend happy, we cannot antagonise another. There are dynamics that we have to look into. We must keep this reality in consideration,’ the Army chief said

The Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies organised the seminar on ‘Defence Diplomacy: Strategy for Bangladesh’ at the BIISS auditorium in Dhaka.

Speakers, including serving and retired military and civil bureaucrats and researchers, underscored the need for coordinated efforts in diplomacy to better serve the interests of the country.

They also called upon the government to invest more in research and set up a national coordination body to make the best use of the achievements in developing diplomatic relations further for the country’s sustained progress in various areas in a coordinated way.

In his presentation on ‘Existing Practices of Defence Diplomacy and Future Directions: The Case of Bangladesh,’ retired Air Vice Marshall and former ambassador Mahmud Hussain said that Myanmar military regime understand better what the military says than the language of politicians.

‘You must deal with Myanmar with iron in hand,’ he suggested, adding that Rohingya people has become a security issue in the region.

Sharing his experiences in the peacekeeping operations, the Army chief said that Bangladesh was the largest contributor to the United Nations peacekeeping missions and therefore had developed good relations with many African countries.

He said the Bangladesh Army was creating business and overseas employment opportunities for civilians also.

Shafiuddin said that their first duty was to protect the country’s sovereignty and other major duties included services in aid of civil power, disaster management, internal security also in aid of civil power in Chittagong Hill Tracts and where it was needed. 

He said that the military persons not only learn how to fight a war but also know how to prevent or avoid any war to achieve the national interest.

‘We are on the right track and we will not be failing in discharging our duties,’ the Army chief asserted.

Ambassador AFM Gousal Azam Sarker, chairman, BIISS, chaired the session and Major General Md Abu Bakar Siddique Khan, director general of BIISS, delivered the welcome address.

Lieutenant General Waker-Uz-Zaman, Chief of General Staff, Bangladesh Army, also spoke at the event.  

ASM Ali Ashraf, Professor, Department of International Relations, University of Dhaka, spoke on ‘Evolving Notion of Defence Diplomacy and its Role in Achieving Foreign Policy Goals,’ ASM Tarek Hassan Semul, Research Fellow, BIISS, talked about ‘Growing Geopolitical Competition: Challenges and Opportunities of Defence Diplomacy for Bangladesh’, Major General (retired) Main Ullah Chowdhury, former deputy force Commander, UN Mission in South Sudan, gave a presentation on ‘Defence Diplomacy in United Nations and Other Overseas Missions: Horizon to Explore.

Senior officials from different ministries, officials from foreign missions in Dhaka, former diplomats and academics and students from various universities, and representatives from international organisations participated in the seminar.