- Bangladesh says improving ties with China won't harm relations with India or the US
- US Ambassador Sergio Gor's visit aims to strengthen US-Bangladesh strategic cooperation
- Gor's visit follows the Bangladeshi PM's trip to Beijing and seeks to understand the country better
Bangladesh's foreign minister, Dr Khalilur Rahman, has cleared the air on the country's position on ties with India and the US amidst the deepening of ties with China.
He said that the improvement of relations with one country does not mean that relations with another country are deteriorating.
Dr Rahman's comments come in the backdrop of US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor's three-day visit to Bangladesh.
"Our relationship with any country is not a zero-sum game with our relations with another country. We will never build relations with one country by hurting our relations with another country. With every country, we will keep our interests intact and take it forward, and that is our effort in building relations," Rahman told reporters.
Dr Rahman further said that the visit to China by Bangladesh's prime minister was good and that if the PM travels to India in the future, it will also be a "very good trip".
"Mr Sergio Gor is visiting us, and I have met Secretary Rubio. We want to take relations forward with these interactions. Bangladesh does not have relations with one country; it has relations with many countries. This is not a fight between the wife (Stree) and the other wife (Sautan). These are relationships based on interests, and we will go wherever our interests lie," Dr Rahman added.
Gor's visit has reignited questions over America's discomfort and India's concerns as China makes deeper inroads in Bangladesh, especially when it comes to water management and infrastructure development.
Chinese Economic And Industrial Zone Construction In Bangladesh
The US ambassador's visit to Bangladesh coincides with the beginning of construction on the Chinese Economic and Industrial Zone (CEIZ) in Chittagong, Bangladesh.
This is China's first national-level industrial park investment in the country that has fructified after more than a decade of planning. The project is being handled by China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC), a state-owned entity and one of China's earliest large state-owned enterprises to enter the international engineering contracting market. The CRBC is engaged in large-scale infrastructure construction, investment, and operation globally and is an important participant and implementer of the Belt and Road Initiative.
Foreign policy analysts view the visit as significant in the backdrop of Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Rahman's recent trip to Beijing, and Gor is expected to articulate America's position on Bangladesh's current foreign policy priorities, its strategic position in the region, and the future of Dhaka-Washington relations.
"I am delighted to welcome to Bangladesh my friend, the US Special Envoy to South and Central Asia, Ambassador Sergio Gor. His visit will strengthen US-Bangladesh strategic ties and regional security and economic cooperation," US Ambassador to Bangladesh Brent T. Christensen said.
Dr Rahman called Gor's visit "exploratory" and said the US envoy would seek a broader understanding of Bangladesh during the trip, where he will also visit Rohingya refugee camps in Cox's Bazaar.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had met Dr Khalilur Rahman on Wednesday on the margins of the ASEAN Regional Forum foreign ministers' meeting in Manila, Philippines.
The United States is the largest international contributor to the Rohingya humanitarian response alongside Japan, Australia, Norway and institutional bodies like the European Union.
Gor is the third senior US official from Washington to visit Bangladesh since the Bangladesh Nationalist Party government assumed office in February. Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Paul Kapur was in Dhaka in March 2026, and Assistant US Trade Representative for South and Central Asia Brendan Lynch visited Bangladesh in May this year.
On Wednesday, Dr Khalilur Rahman met India's High Commissioner to Bangladesh, Dinesh Trivedi. Shama Obaed Islam, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, also met Dinesh Trivedi on Wednesday.
