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Bangladesh, Maldives deepen cooperation on Indian Ocean security

Bangladesh and the Maldives agreed in late December 2021 to expand security cooperation to ensure peace and stability in the Indian Ocean region, weeks after the nations participated in maritime exercises with like-minded military partners, including the United States.

In a statement, the two nations’ leaders highlighted “the importance of working together bilaterally, regionally and internationally in combating the rising menace of terrorism, violent extremism and radicalization.” Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Maldivian President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih also agreed to counter threats such as piracy, human and narcotics trafficking and organized crime through regional and multilateral organizations, including the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), of which both are members.

During Hasina’s six-day visit to the Maldives, the leaders pledged to work toward “greater maritime safety and security” in the region, and Solih thanked Hasina for Bangladesh’s gift of 13 military vehicles and for the deployment of Bangladesh Armed Forces medical teams to the island republic during the pandemic. Such high-level engagements solidify the bilateral relationship and boost collaboration, Solih said during a banquet honoring Hasina, the Maldivian news website Sun Online reported December 24.

Half of the world’s container ship traffic and two-thirds of global oil shipments traverse the Indian Ocean, according to the IORA, which was founded in 1997 and now has 23 member states with a total population of about 2.7 billion.

Encompassing almost 70 million square kilometers from Africa to the Indo-Pacific, the maritime region faces multiple challenges, from armed robberies at sea to illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing. Climate change and consequent rising sea levels, meanwhile, pose an existential threat to low-lying nations such as Bangladesh and the Maldives.

Hasina and Solih “noted the need to promote sustainable governance of the ocean and environmental resources,” and they agreed to step up joint efforts on climate change adaptation and disaster management, according to their statement.

“I am happy to share that we just held a very fruitful discussion on the entire spectrum of our bilateral relations,” Hasina said, according to The Daily Star newspaper in Bangladesh.

Hasina’s trip to the Maldives came the same month that the Bangladesh Navy concluded nine days of virtual, in-person and at-sea engagements with the U.S. Navy as part of the 27th annual Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) series. Aircraft and ships from both navies conducted exercises in the Bay of Bengal, focusing on areas including replenishment-at-sea, search and rescue and surface warfare, according to a U.S. Pacific Fleet news release. (Pictured: The Bangladesh Navy patrol frigate BNS Somudra Avijan, foreground, and the U.S. Navy littoral combat ship USS Tulsa conduct a replenishment-at-sea exercise during Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training in the Bay of Bengal in December 2021.)

“I am confident that this visit of USS Tulsa, including performing exercises with the Bangladesh Navy at sea, is a milestone in enhancing the relationship between our navies in greater mutual maritime cooperation,” said Capt. A.N.M. Ishtiaq Jahan Farouqee, commanding officer of the Bangladesh Navy guided-missile frigate BNS Bangabandhu, according to the news release.

“As maritime nations with a shared vision for a Free and Open Indo-Pacific, we used CARAT to contribute to regional maritime security by enhancing our ability to work side-by-side at sea as well as in the planning process,” said U.S. Navy Capt. Tom Ogden, commodore of Destroyer Squadron 7.

In late November 2021, the Maldives National Defence Force participated in a two-day maritime exercise with the coast guards of India and Sri Lanka to strengthen security in the Indian Ocean.

“The aim of India-Maldives-Sri Lanka trilateral exercise ‘Dosti’ is to further fortify the friendship, enhance mutual operational capability and exercise interoperability, and to build cooperation,” the Indian High Commission in the Maldives said in a statement, according to the Indian news website The Economic Times.

 

IMAGE CREDIT: PETTY OFFICER 1ST CLASS DEVIN M. LANGER/U.S. NAVY

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