BD must never again become a 'client state': Dr Khalil

Foreign Minister Dr Khalilur Rahman on Wednesday said Bangladesh must never again become a "client state", describing the country's post-July diplomatic approach as one guided by the principle of "Bangladesh First" while safeguarding its sovereignty amid an increasingly complex global order.

Speaking as the chief guest at a programme marking July Mass Uprising Day at the Foreign Service Academy in the capital, he said one of the central aspirations of the July Movement was to ensure that Bangladesh would never again become a client state.

"One of the central aspirations of the July Movement was that Bangladesh should never become a client state," he said, recalling Prime Minister Tarique Rahman's remarks at the inauguration of the July Memorial Museum earlier in the day.

He said the success of the July Movement had placed a historic responsibility on the nation to safeguard Bangladesh's sovereignty and pursue an independent, national interest-based foreign policy.

"From the very beginning, the guiding principle of our government's foreign policy has been 'Bangladesh First'. We will never again allow Bangladesh to become a client state. Never again," he said.

Dr Khalilur said Türkiye's foreign minister recently told him that Bangladesh had once appeared to be fading from the international stage but was now making a strong return, describing the remark as a reflection of the country's renewed international standing.

"We are very happy to see Bangladesh coming back, which was once disappearing from the international arena," he quoted the Turkish foreign minister as saying.

He said the comment reinforced the government's belief that Bangladesh had regained an independent voice in global affairs.

Recalling the events of August 2024, the foreign minister said he was deeply shaken by reports of violence on August 1 and contacted the office of the United Nations Secretary-General, urging action over what he described as grave human rights violations in Bangladesh.

"We told him... them... him that. And I think it wasn't that he sat there in silence. And we saw after a while that at least some of the forces stopped firing. And I think that the change that we were accelerating probably played a role," he said.

Dr Khalilur described the crackdown during the July Uprising as the most brutal period in Bangladesh since independence.

"It was the most brutal time in the history of Bangladesh... a great dark chapter. We haven't seen a time like this since independence," he said.

The foreign minister cautioned that Bangladesh must navigate an increasingly uncertain international environment marked by challenges to multilateralism and the erosion of the post-World War II rules-based order.

"We are in a complex international and regional situation. We see multilateralism increasingly facing big challenges... We have to navigate through this complex regional and global reality," he said.

Highlighting what he described as one of the government's early diplomatic successes, Dr Khalilur said Bangladesh decided to remain in the race for the presidency of the UN General Assembly despite the challenges.

He said Prime Minister Tarique Rahman insisted that Bangladesh should contest the election, even though it appeared to be "a mission impossible".