India asks Bangladesh to make wise choices about foreign loans

Indian external affairs minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Bangladesh foreign minister AK Abdul Momen. — UNB photo

Indian external affairs minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said countries like Bangladesh should make prudent decisions during taking huge foreign loans for projects on infrastructure development.

‘Every country will look for opportunities what it can do. But, while doing so, it’s in their own interests, they should be prudent about what they are getting into,’ Jaishankar said in reply to a ‘hypothetical question’ raised by foreign minister AK Abdul Momen at Munich Security Conference in Germany on Saturday.

Momen was in the audience during a panel discussion on Indo-Pacific when Jaishankar shared stage with United States senator Jeanne Shaheen, Australian foreign minister Marise Payne and Japanese foreign minister Yoshimasa Hayashi representing four Quad countries.

‘We need a competition’ in getting funds for infrastructure projects, Momen said during framing the question, stating that, ‘China comes forward with a basket of money and aggressive affordable proposals’ while some development partners ‘come up with a lot of strings.’

He wanted to know whether the US would be willing to come up with lucrative programmes and big budget to help implement infrastructure projects in developing countries sharing Indian Ocean.

United Sates senator Jeanne Shaheen initially tried to avoid the question stating that the question was for the Indian minister.

At the insistence of Jaishankar, she said the US installed a new entity called International Development Finance Corporation to make development finance more effective compared to the money spent in the past in the developing countries.

Without mentioning Sri Lanka and Hambantota seaport and Mattala airport implemented in the country with funds from China, Jaishankar said there were countries saddled with large debts in South Asia for commercially unsustainable projects, including airports and harbours.

Describing it as a matter of international concern, he said, ‘unsustainable projects do not end there. Often the next is, debt becomes equity, and that becomes something else. There are real concerns out there.’

Jaishankar concluded stating that the policymakers in the countries concern should make informed decisions in competitive scenarios.

At the Munich Security Conference, foreign minister Momen also joined a panel discussion with John Kerry, climate envoy of the US president, Franziska Brantner, German state secretary for economic affairs and climate action, Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE’s minister for industry and advanced technology.

Momen also had a meeting his Australian counterpart Marise Payne on the sidelines of the conference. They discussed about the potentials of expanding trade between the two countries.

They reaffirmed the importance of freedom of navigation for the shared prosperity and security of all in the Indo-Pacific region.