FOREIGN POLICY OF BANGLADESH : A REVIEW OF PAST TWO DECADES

Over the two decades since independence, Bangladesh crafted a foreign policy that balanced principled objectives with acute resource constraints and shifting global currents. This article reviews the period through several lenses: recognition diplomacy in the 1970s, engagement with the Non-Aligned Movement, and careful management of relations with India, Pakistan, China and the wider Muslim world. It highlights the pursuit of food security and development financing through multilateral forums, the country’s prominent contributions to UN peacekeeping, and the use of labor migration and aid partnerships to diversify external linkages. The discussion also traces maritime and riverine issues, the diplomacy of disaster relief, and the emergence of trade preferences as a policy priority. By synthesizing these strands, the article shows how successive governments mixed normative messaging with pragmatic coalition-building to protect sovereignty, attract resources and reduce strategic vulnerability in a turbulent neighborhood.

The body begins with 1971–75, detailing the quest for rapid diplomatic recognition, UN admission and reparations narratives, alongside early initiatives to secure grain and balance-of-payments support. The second section examines the late-1970s realignment toward a more diversified external posture, including openings to China and the Gulf states, and how this recalibration complemented ties with India and the West. A development diplomacy chapter analyzes interactions with the World Bank, IMF and regional development banks, tracking conditionality debates and the politics of concessional flows. The article then turns to river-water negotiations and maritime delimitation, explaining how hydrology and fisheries management entered the foreign-policy agenda. Peacekeeping is assessed as both material opportunity and reputational asset, with attention to force generation, training and remittance effects. A final section explores trade preferences, garments value chains and the use of economic zones to anchor export-led growth. The conclusion distills lessons on institutional memory, inter-agency coordination and strategic communications needed to sustain a resilient foreign policy under fiscal and climatic constraints.