Bangladesh felt that World Bank should compensate the people whom they had harassed bringing false allegations of corruption centring the Padma Bridge project.
“They raised false allegations and tormented a lot of people. Many were harassed as they became the victims of their false allegations. The World Bank should compensate these people” said Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Thursday.
“They should seek apology by confessing that what they had done was egregiously wrong” the foreign minister noted.
“The World Bank should be apologetic for what they did centring the Padma Bridge project,” he added.
It may be mentioned that the World Bank, which had agreed to fund the mega-project backed out from financing it, raising allegations of corruption against some top officials of the government.
Later, the government jailed some of the officials in line with the allegations but World Bank withdrew the funding prompting the government to carry on the project with its own resources.
Recently, the allegations of corruption were found false by a Canadian court.
Asked whether Bangladesh would formally ask the World Bank to seek an apology, Momen said that the bank should have the mindset to seek an apology for doing a wrong thing.
“There is no hurry from our side. The bank should have the mindset on their own as there is no harm in accepting guilt,” said he.
Earlier, addressing a programme organised by the BIISS, the minister said Bangladesh would opt to reap economic benefits from the recently formed platform like the China-led Belt and Road, and the US-led Quad or Indo Pacific forum.
“Many new regional and global partnerships are flourishing. We have seen the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). We have seen the rise of APEC and QUAD and the AUKUS. Recently, we have also seen a new initiative, the "Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF)”.
“We understand that some of these frameworks are or might be mutually exclusive, but we are also expecting solid economic opportunities to appear from both the frameworks and the faultlines that they create by the more aspirational and often ideational processes being put in place” the minister added.
He said, Bangladesh is no longer price taker and it engages with the world on its own terms.
“We continuously study the international events and actors and we are ready to engage with everyone who wishes us no harm and who would not wish to use our resources for launching offensive agenda of their own. That’s how we envision and leverage our sovereign national interests”
He pointed out that the strategic location, the rich demographic dividend and a strong domestic market, make Bangladesh an important player on the chessboard and our choices make us a pivot and a pole both.
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