Bangladesh’s ruling Awami League on Wednesday released its 109-page election manifesto ahead of the federal election on 7 January.
The manifesto, titled ‘Smart Bangladesh: Where Development Shines, Accelerating Employment’, stated that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina would build a strong friendship with Russia to expand the country’s energy sector if she is re-elected in the upcoming election.
“Despite the Ukraine and other major global conflicts and tensions, Bangladesh has maintaines good relations with major powers through an effective and balanced foreign policy,” it noted.
As one of the major achievements of the Hasina government, the manifesto mentioned that the installation of the reactor pressure vessels of the first and second units of the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) in 2021 and 2022 respectively.
Russia delivered the first shipment of uranium for the Rooppur NPP in October.
Awami League Pledges ‘Friendship with All, Enmity with None’
The election manifesto re-affirmed that an Awami League government would continue to follow the constitutional policy of having “friendship with all, enmity with none” in Dhaka’s foreign relationships.
The manifesto said that Dhaka was willing to strengthen its relationship with China, the largest trading partner, in terms of development financing.
It said that Bangladesh would cooperate with Muslim nations on issues of security and counter-terrorism.
“In addition, the government intends to further strengthen financial transactions within the framework of Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC),” it underscored.
It also underlined that one of Bangladesh’s goals would also to be strengthen ties with Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) for “mutual development and growth”.
Boosting Ties With India
As regards India, the manifesto said that the Awami League would continue to cooperate with India in areas of cross-border connectivity, transit, energy partnership and equitable water sharing.
New Delhi has historically been Bangladesh’s biggest development and its closest political partner, a legacy which has been further cemented under PM Hasina.
The manifesto lauded the fact that Bangladesh has been able to resolve its “longstanding issues with India by demarcating land boundaries and exchanging enclaves” during the outgoing government’s tenure.
It further pledged to work towards opening new areas of cooperation with other South Asian countries such as Nepal and Bhutan in hydropower generation and joint management of common river basins.
It pledged that an Awami League government would play an active role in regional counter-terrorism cooperation through the formation of the "South Asia Task Force".
It vowed to continue ties with regional mechanisms such as South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC).