– Ambassadors not to be appointed on contract for now
Raheed Ejaz, Dhaka: After winning the 7 January election, the Awami League government has pointed to politics, economy and diplomacy as the three main challenges to be tackled. The first cabinet meeting of this government was held on 15 January. At the meeting, the prime minister Sheikh Hasina placed stress on establishing good governance, diversifying exports, attracting investment, exporting skilled manpower, resolving the Rohingya crisis by means of repatriation and increasing the remittance flow. In light of this, foreign minister Hasan Mahmud has highlighted 9 issues for Bangladesh’s ambassadors abroad to pay due attention to when facing the diplomatic challenges.
Officials of the foreign ministry told Prothom Alo that the foreign minister highlighted these directives in letters sent to Bangladesh’s ambassadors abroad. Speaking to a number of ambassadors concerning the letter sent by the foreign minister, it was learnt that at the outset of the nine directives, the issue of post-election diplomacy was highlighted. It was said that the basic policy of ‘Friendship towards all, malice towards none’ was taking Bangladesh’s foreign relations ahead. Mentioning that various countries may have various views and feelings due to the geopolitical importance of Bangladesh, and the government will work on strengthening existing ties of friendship with countries of both the East and West, taking into consideration those views and valid recommendations.
The next challenges to be taken up are strengthening economic diplomacy, expanding the commodities and overseas employment, searching for alternative sources of import, attracting investment, integrated diplomatic efforts for Rohingya repatriation, organising trade-related events, public diplomacy, other global issues and a balance of workforce and budget.
At the end of the letter directing the ambassadors to tackle the various challenges, the foreign minister praised the foreign ministry for keeping up with the global changes in order to strengthen bilateral and multilateral diplomatic ties.
When asked about the matter, foreign minister Hasan Mahmud told Prothom Alo on 28 March, Bangladesh’s missions have an important role. “I have sent a letter recently to Bangladesh ambassadors to tackle the diplomatic challenges”, he said.
According to diplomatic experts and analysts of international relations, the last two of the three challenges, that is economy and diplomacy, are directly interrelated. In contemporary times, diplomacy has crossed the ambit of politics and now centres on geopolitics and geo-economy. And the main destination of Bangladesh’s economy is the US and other western countries. And so the government’s economic and diplomatic challenges are interrelated. It is certainly a large challenge before the government to settle the differences with the major countries of the West over the issue of good governance and to take economic interests ahead.
Three important quarters of the West have not changed their stance towards the one-sided election. The US, UK and EU in particular have made their disappointment clear. So work needs to be done to eliminate their misgivings concerning democracy and good governance. This is part of the nine directives issued by the foreign minister in this letter to the envoys
Officials of the foreign ministry have said the letter issued to the ambassadors speaks of displaying a positive attitude and taking relations ahead with various countries and blocs which have differences with the government or have voiced concerns.
While this is the first time that Hasan Mahmud has taken office as foreign minister, he had initially served as state minister for foreign affairs in 2009 when Awami League came to power. This time on the first day that he took over as foreign minister, he first held a meeting with secretaries of the ministry and other senior officials.
Certain diplomats who had been present at that meeting held on 14 January, told this correspondent that the foreign minister had been briefed about the overall picture of the next five years. Based on the election manifesto of the Awami League government, the picture of Bangladesh’s international relations challenges for the next five years from 2024 to 2029 was highlighted, along with the challenges to be faced.
Pointing to the possible diplomatic challenges ahead of the foreign ministry in the coming days, the concerned officials said, the major challenges before the government are bridging the gap with foreign countries on the issues of the overall economic crisis, human rights, labour rights and democracy, ensuring that the country does not lean to any one side in light of the geopolitical and geo-economic tensions, establishing strategic partnership by means of security and defence cooperation, resolving the Rohingya crisis, particularly making a strong effort for repatriation and getting international support to this end.
When asked about the economic challenges, a diplomat said the big challenge for the government in the coming days is increasing trade and commerce and attracting investment. From this year the government will have to start repaying major partners like China and Russia for the mega development projects. The matter of replaying the loans has coincidentally come up at such a time when Bangladesh is suffering from the impact of the global economy. Assistance from development partners and friendly countries has become imperative for Bangladesh to tackle the dollar crisis. And concerns regarding good governance and labour rights must be assuaged in order to attract investment.
Human rights, particularly freedom of expression and civic rights, and labour rights, are being seen as the challenges of the coming days. When asked about the matter, a diplomat said human rights will be considered a major aspect in trade, commerce and investment and cooperation in various sectors with the developed world. This calls for the challenge of establishing positive links with the western countries which have concerns about human rights and good governance.
Several officials pointed to the geopolitical and geo-economic importance of Bangladesh in recent times. They feel that there had been thoughts that the US would impose visa and trade sanctions centering the 12th parliamentary polls which BNP has boycotted. But that did not transpire. Again, three important quarters of the West have not changed their stance towards the one-sided election. The US, UK and EU in particular have made their disappointment clear. So work needs to be done to eliminate their misgivings concerning democracy and good governance. This is part of the nine directives issued by the foreign minister in this letter to the envoys.
Ambassadors not to be appointed on contract for now
Contractual appointment and extension of tenure of ambassadors affect the career of mid ranked officers, especially those who are on the pipeline of getting appointment of ambassador
The government is not going to appoint anyone new on contract as ambassador in Bangladesh missions abroad. Following this decision, 10 ambassadors whose contracts and normal tenures are set to end have been asked to return home. Apart from this, the services of seven other ambassadors, who are on contract and will retire, are scheduled to end by 31 December.
Officials at the foreign ministry say that in total, 17 ambassadors will be reshuffled this year, which will be a major reshuffle among the top diplomats after the current government takes over. In addition to this, the two-year contract period of foreign secretary Masud bin Momen will also end in December this year. Outside of this, the contracts of Bangladeshi diplomats in four countries including the United States are also going to expire next year.
In all, contracts and normal tenures of 21 ambassadors are set to expire in the next year and a half. There will be a change in the position of the foreign secretary during this time as well. Because, in addition to the 10 ambassadors asked to return home, the normal service term of six ambassadors assigned to India, at the permanent mission in New York, in the United Kingdom, Brussels, Australia and Portugal will also end next December.
The term of office of the contractually appointed ambassador to Russia will also end in December. Apart from this, Bangladesh High Commissioner to Pakistan Md Ruhul Alam Siddique was transferred to Dhaka on 24 March.
”Several current and past diplomats have raised questions about the trend of contractual appointment of two years while speaking with this correspondent”
According to diplomatic analysts, 18 missions will see reshuffles of high commissioners and ambassadors in a year after the current government comes to power. Besides this, a new person has to be appointed for the post of foreign secretary. This will be the first time since independence that such a large number of reshuffles have taken place in the same year.
Officials at the foreign ministry said that the ambassadors of Bangladesh in Canada, Geneva, Germany, Japan, Kuwait, Poland, Thailand and Iraq were performing their duties on contract. Their contracts expired before the 12th parliamentary elections. But in September last year, the government extended the contract of all of them for another six months. On the other hand, the normal term of service of two diplomats serving in Italy and Greece ends in April. Ten of them have already been asked to return home.
30pc quota in ambassador post
Bangladesh has 81 missions and consulates in 58 countries. Of those, the embassy in Sudan is currently closed due to civil war in the North African country. Fifty seven ambassadors have been working at the remaining 80 missions abroad.
There are no written rules on how many per cent of the ambassadors in foreign missions could be appointed on contract. But the practice of appointing 30 per cent of the ambassadors on contract started from the tenure of HM Ershad.
The subsequent governments elected by democratic process in the post 1990-era continued this precedence set by the autocratic ruler. The rate of appointment of ambassadors even surpassed 30 per cent during some governments. Generally, retired and serving civil and military officers appointed in ministry on deputation as well as political favorites are appointed on contract.
It can be noted that late president Ziaur Rahman first started the assimilation of the self-confessed murderers of the Bangabandhu and the army officers involved in the jail killing case. Army officials of various ranks were later attached to the foreign ministry. This trend continued during the reign of Ershad. Also, several officials of Rakkhi Bahini also joined the foreign ministry.
Two years on contract is the new normal
Contractual appointment and extension of tenure of ambassadors affect the career of mid ranked officers, especially those who are on the pipeline of getting appointment of ambassador. The trend of extending the term of service by two additional years after the end of regular service started to be widespread in recent times, especially since 2017. As a result, all officers nowadays expect to get a two-year contractual appointment at the end of the service period.
Several current and past diplomats have raised questions about the trend of contractual appointment of two years while speaking with this correspondent. They said such contractual appointments to posts of ambassador also mean that officers who were supposed to get promoted and take over the posts are ignored. Foreign Service Association officials raised the issue during a recent meeting with foreign minister Hasan Mahmud. They requested the minister to do away with the trend of extending the tenure.
Who is going to be next foreign secretary
The tenure of Bangladesh’s 26th foreign secretary Masud Bin Momen ended in December 2022. The government extended his job for two years on contract before his service term ended. The contract of Masud Bin Momen will end on 5 December this year. The process to find his successor is supposed to start several months before the expiration of his contract. The names of Syeda Muna Tasnim and Md Mostafizur Rahman– Bangladesh high commissioners in the United Kingdom and India respectively—are appearing as forerunners. However, these two officials of 11th BCS are to go to Post Retirement Leave (PRL) on 26 and 31 December respectively. As a result, if any of these officers are to get recruited as foreign secretary, they will have to be appointed months before their PRL date.
Later the one selected for the post will have to be given an extension of the job on contractual basis. There was no such example of extending tenure on contract within months of appointment as foreign secretary in the last two decades.
It can be mentioned that the name of Rabab Fatima, the former Bangladesh ambassador in the US, came to fore as the successor of Masud Bin Momen at the beginning of 2022. Later the government extended Masud Bin Momen’s tenure for two years. Rabab Fatima later in June that year became the under-secretary of the United Nations.
Former foreign secretary Md Touhid Hossain told Prothom Alo the decision to choose a former diplomat contractually over a regular diplomat is a political decision.
He thinks the foreign ministry has enough quality diplomats to perform the duties of ambassador. So there is no reason to appoint diplomats on contract for two years after the normal term of service. The recruitment process would have been easier if professional diplomats were routinely posted as ambassadors years ago.
