The Forgotten Isle of Electoral Ocean, Foreign Policy

Noor Majid
Just after 3 more days on December 30th our national elections will take place. This election is expected to deliver many promises on democratic governance, economic liberty and national development promised by the two opposing political rivals, BNP and Awami League. The electoral procedures, campaign strategy of the candidates and many other aspects are covered by every news outlet in the country. However another imperative aspect which has huge implication on our national  interest is rarely discussed. This aspect is our foreign policy. The main electoral promise that has become a serious national agenda for the news media is our national development and economic reform. Enter the age of free market economy and the practical challenges it represents for a developing nation, anyone wiser would realize the need of a balanced foreign policy strategy. A stable national interest based foreign policy will boost our economic significance to regional superpowers and certainly will draw more investments and focus from the international community. Thus giving us an edge in diplomatic relations. Bangladesh has the most strategically crucial position in whole south Asia, a land bridge of deltaic plain connecting South Asia to South East Asia. Other than this fact Bangladesh also has huge workforce, cheap labor and other utilities which are attractive to our powerful neighbors, namely India and China. With their national interest in mind both of them wants to gain maximum profit from our national election. They want connectivity through Bangladesh; they need our assurance on regional security and also our market. So we do have much leverage on negotiation table and we need to exploit these advantages to gain as much as economic benefit as possible.
How that strategy would be formulated that is the matter of foreign policy experts of our country, but citizens should express their opinion on this regard. Public opinion on national interest should be seriously taken by any regime that comes out victorious from the election. The two basic parts of foreign policy the principle and balance of interests should be shaped by public concern on democratic rights and economic benefits. This way the new strategy of balancing acts would be more realistic, cohesive and objective based foreign policy. It would greatly benefit to stabilize different human security needs of Bangladesh.