Colombo Security Conclave: Bangladesh to become full member, says foreign secy

Bangladesh will become a full member of the Colombo Security Conclave, a regional security grouping in the Indian Ocean that is at the heart of an evolving multipolar world, with extra-regional powers competing to make inroads in the region.

"We have so far been observer of the Colombo Security Conclave. Recently, we have decided that we will participate in the conclave as a member in the future," Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen told reporters after he met Indian Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra at the state guest house Jamuna on Thursday.

The CSC, which was formed in 2011 as a trilateral Indian Ocean maritime security grouping of India, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives, came to a standstill after 2014 due to rising tensions between India and the Maldives.

In 2020, India pushed for the revival and institutionalisation of the organisation and expressed interest in expanding the CSC to Mauritius, Seychelles, and Bangladesh, demonstrating India's evolving strategic vision for the Indian Ocean, according to an article by the Indian think tank Observer Research Foundation.

Asked about the implications of Bangladesh's joining the CSC, Dhaka University's International Relations Department Prof Niloy Ranjan Biswas said he sees more opportunities than challenges in it.

He said the objective of the CSC is to cooperate among the countries to address challenges such as narco-trafficking, human trafficking, piracy, terrorism and extremism, and even humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.

"The security cooperation as defined in the CSC is broad and wide. It is not limited to defence only. For Bangladesh, maritime safety and security in the context of future risks is very important. It is important for the regional countries to work together to address the security threats," he said.

Even, if some other countries like Australia join the grouping, it would be even better. Such groupings are mini-lateral ways of working more effectively, which is often not possible in big platforms like the Indian Ocean Rim Association.

The challenge is that there can be an impression that the CSC is an anti-China security bloc. As Bangladesh maintained a balancing foreign policy, more such countries joining the grouping can ensure that it is not a military alliance against any particular country.

Bangladesh's principle is not joining any military alliance and it will continue to maintain so in the future as well, Prof Niloy Ranjan said.

"So, if Bangladesh is involved in constructive engagement, maintains its pragmatic foreign policy of balancing, keeping its national interest in mind, there should not be any problem at all," he said.