NEW DELHI: India’s relationship with Bangladesh is structurally strong, said External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Sunday, speaking at the Kautilya Economic Conclave.
“When I was in New York, I met Bangladesh’s advisor for foreign affairs. We had a discussion and the summary of it from their side was the stress on cooperation with India. On our side, we believe that structurally, our relationship is so strong. There could be political ups and downs but the structure can absorb all of that. Exactly how we are going to go forward with the relationship, needs to be worked out,” Jaishankar said.
The minister explained that the main dialogues India has had with Bangladesh are the meeting in New York and the interaction of Indian High Commissioner in Dhaka with the current regime. He said it is too early to predict the course of those conversations.
Jaishankar also spoke about the expansion of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa), considering that the next BRICS leaders’ summit is set to take place in Russia’s Kazan this month.
“We are looking at how we take the expansion further in the coming BRICS Summit. Many others want multiple options and want a larger spread in their relationships. That’s the world we are moving to. It is not just the UN that is getting old, the global order is getting old,” said Jaishankar.
He also spoke about the UN critically and how it has not been stepping up on key issues. “There are two serious conflicts going on in the world. Where is the UN on them, essentially a bystander. So, what you have today is, yes, there is a UN at the end of the day. However sub-optimal it is in functioning, it is still the only multilateral game in town, but when it does not step up on key issues, countries figure out their own ways of doing it,” Jaishankar said.
“In a way, the UN is like an old company, not entirely keeping up with the market, but occupying the space. When it is behind times, in this world you have start-ups and innovations, different people start doing their own things,” he added.