Dhaka seeks New Delhi's advice on Russian oil purchase: Momen

Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen on Monday said he sought suggestion from India on how they are managing their purchase of oil from Russia, noting that the energy issue has become a real problem for Bangladesh, too.

“We are dependent on energy (import). Russia offered us energy and wheat. It has become a real problem. We are afraid of it (energy crisis). We sought their (India) suggestions on how they are doing it. This is more of a friendly discussion,” he told reporters, apparently keeping the fear of sanctions in mind, reports UNB.

Momen attended the two-day NADI Conclave in Guwahati on May 28-29 together with his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar.

The Indian government has defended the move to buy Russian oil, saying what it buys from Russia in a month is less than what Europe buys from Russia in an afternoon, according to BBC.

As calls continue for India to keep its distance from Moscow over the Ukraine issue, its oil purchases from Russia have more than doubled from last year, reports BBC.

India has taken advantage of discounted prices to ramp up oil imports from Russia at a time when global energy prices have been rising.

Without naming any country, Momen said, “You are seeing that they keep bossing us and you (journalists) also encourage them. Every day, they come up with new issues. We used to call them development partners. They don’t pay for the development but keep giving advice.”

Momen also claimed that to impede the development, they put forward many things and add various conditions to create instability. “These are not acceptable.”

Responding to a question, the foreign minister said Bangladesh, being a peace-loving country, always welcomes stability in the world.

“We are very inter-dependent,” he said, adding that Bangladesh will get affected if there is instability in the USA and Europe – two big markets for Bangladesh’s export.

At the same time, if there is instability in the Middle East, Bangladesh’s remittance earnings will get hurt, he said.

“We don’t want to get into any problem. We want peace in the world,” Momen said, adding that the rich countries will also be affected and it is good for all to end the war as soon as possible.

The foreign minister said he also discussed with Jaishankar how regional organizations are made stronger to resolve issues regionally to ensure stability and security.

He, however, said Bangladesh does not want to see that multilateralism gets weaker. “We are a big promoter of multilateralism."