BANGLADESH DIASPORA ENGAGEMENT

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 DHAKA 000919 SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPT FOR SCA/PB AND SCA/RA RVORA DEPT ALSO FOR S/GPI KWALKER AND S/P E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PRELPGOVEAIDECONEINVBEXPSCULOIIPBTIO OEXC SMIGBG SUBJECT: BANGLADESH DIASPORA ENGAGEMENT REF: STATE 86401 ¶1. (SBU) Mission Dhaka welcomes reftel initiative and opportunities for further connections with the Bangladeshi diaspora in the United States. We already engage with Bangladeshi-Americans in a number of areas, but there is wide scope for expanded interaction. Our experience is that the Bangladeshi diaspora in the United States is a vibrant and active, though currently somewhat fragmented, group. ¶2. (SBU) Our responses to reftel questions follow: A) To what extent are diasporans from your host country an identifiable community? Are there existing diaspora networks, organizations or online communities available as platforms for outreach? Non-Resident Bangladeshis form easily identifiable communities in the United States and elsewhere outside the country. Bangladeshis (along with Bengalis from India's West Bengal State) have a strong sense of ethnic identity, based on language and culture. There are strong Bangladeshi and Bengali networks on line and elsewhere. Within North America, the Federation of Bangladeshi Associations of North America (FOBANA) holds annual conferences that are opportunities to bring together the diaspora groups. The Bengali associations often include both individuals of Indian and Bangladeshi origin. The Bangladeshi community in the United States is growing rapidly, as witnessed by the growth in immigrant visas issued by Embassy Dhaka's consular section. B) What is the nature of the connection of the diaspora community to the host country? Examples include kinship networks; educational or other institutional ties; financial support as from remittances; and direct participation in community or country affairs and civil society. The Bangladeshi diaspora community retains strong ties to Bangladesh. Bangladesh has become increasingly dependent on remittances from expatriate workers, and the United States is currently the second largest single-country source of remittances (over $1 billion/year). Many Bangladeshis who emigrate return home for marriage (or for the marriage of their children),send money to family members left at home, sponsor others for immigration, and set up businesses in their home areas. This is particularly strong in specific areas of Bangladesh, e.g., Sylhet Division in northeastern Bangladesh. Bangladesh's major political parties all have overseas branches, including within the United States. These overseas party branches sponsor visits and gatherings by political leaders from Bangladesh. C) To what extent has your host country or government activated its diaspora communities for humanitarian relief? How would you characterize the level of response? If outreach is relatively recent, do you foresee opportunities to maintain diaspora community involvement in country over the long term? The Bangladesh Government has not systematically engaged the diaspora community in humanitarian relief efforts. The initiative for relief activities comes from the diaspora community groups, who often contribute via a relief fund set up by the Prime Minister or Army Chief. Following the November 2007 Category 5 Cyclone SIDR that affected southwest Bangladesh, the diaspora community provided significant relief. For example, Bangladeshis in the State of Michigan provided over $100,000 in cyclone relief to the then-Chief Adviser's relief fund. During the Caretaker Government period, the GOB attempted to mobilize the Non-Resident Bangladeshi community in part to break the hold of the political parties over diaspora political activities. The GOB indirectly sponsored a NRB Conference in Dhaka in late 2007. The Bangladeshi Embassy in Washington and Consulates in the United States maintain close ties with diaspora community groups. D) To what extent is the diaspora community engaged in long-term investment in country, for example micro-enterprise development, job creation, entrepreneurship, and institutional capacity building? What is post's assessment of the future potential for long-term and sustained engagement of the diaspora community in such efforts? A number of Bangladesh-Americans have attempted to become involved in economic/commercial activities at home. One group of Bangladeshi-Americans established a venture capital firm in 2007. Another returned to Bangladesh to form an investment company. In many cases, Bangladeshis educated in the U.S. and elsewhere return to Bangladesh to become involved in family businesses. A number of younger Bangladeshi Americans have returned to Bangladesh for short internships with NGOs such as Grameen Bank and BRAC. There is tremendous potential to expand upon these initial attempts. DHAKA 00000919 002 OF 003 E) To what extent is the diaspora community working toward scientific, engineering, medical and educational institution building? How might diasporans with backgrounds in these fields or otherwise affiliated with the Academy, or professional and technical societies, become engaged in science diplomacy programs? A number of Bangladeshi-American academics remain interested in developments at home and travel frequently for exchanges. They are active in the Fulbright and other U.S. scholarship programs. Two prominent Bangladeshi academic organizations in the U.S., the Bangladesh Development Initiative and the Democracy and Development in Bangladesh Forum, have sponsored a Conference on Bangladesh at Harvard University in 2008 and 2009. The growth of private universities in Bangladesh has opened up new opportunities for exchanges in higher education. A number of professors and administrators of these private universities were educated or worked in the United States or Europe. The Grameen Bank has also embarked upon a pioneering health project which will provide other opportunities for linkages with the U.S. F) To what extent is the diaspora community engaged in conflict resolution and peace building? Do you see future potential to translate diaspora community participation in these processes into other priorities governing the bilateral (and/or regional) relationship? There has not been much involvement in peace building activities in Bangladesh. (See answer to question H for involvement in political development at home). G) To what extent is the diaspora community engaged in meeting the health, education and welfare needs of indigenous peoples? So far, the diaspora community has not been particularly focused on issues related to indigenous populations in Bangladesh. H) To what extent is the diaspora community engaged in democracy promotion, electoral reform and civil society development? Are there key milestones in your host country or host government's development that would create opportunities for such engagement in the future? The Bangladeshi diaspora has been polarized along traditional political party lines. At the same time, there are opportunities for the diaspora community to assist with efforts to reform the political parties and build institutions at home. We will look at these opportunities as we develop expanded democracy/governance programs delivered through USAID. I) How would you characterize the level of concern and attention given to diaspora communities by your host government? If applicable, please describe the host government's organization and strategy dedicated to relationship-building with its diaspora communities. For example, host governments may have established promotion offices to encourage diasporans' return, bringing with them know-how and financial resources. The Government of Bangladesh is increasingly interested in leveraging the contribution of the diaspora community. We have begun to discuss the possibility of establishing a "Bangladesh Foundation" in the United States to help channel the energies and contribution of the diaspora into public-private partnerships in Bangladesh. The Prime Minister's son is a member of the diaspora, living outside Washington D.C. and married to an American citizen. He studied in the U.S. at both the undergraduate and graduate level. One of the PM's international affairs advisors is a professor at the University of Virginia. The Prime Minister's daughter lives in Canada. There have been a number of initiatives to encourage the diaspora to remit money to Bangladesh, to become involved in lobbying on Bangladesh in the United States, to invest in developing resources, and to assist with education. J) If post has undertaken programs to reach out proactively to diaspora community members, please share the circumstances that prompted the outreach effort, how outreach was conducted or programmed, personal impressions from the experience, and benefits from the outreach effort. Mission Dhaka has been actively involved with outreach to diaspora groups, including the Bangladesh Development Initiative (BDI),the Bangladesh-American Public Affairs Committee (BAPAC) in Michigan, and the U.S. Bangladesh Advisory Council (USBAC) in Washington. Working with SCA, we have also pursued initiatives to reach out to the Federation of Bangladesh Associations of North America (FOBANA), including a speech by SCA A/S Blake at their 2009 annual conference. We have worked with Bangladeshi-American academics through BDI and the American Institute of Bangladesh Studies (AIBS). We are DHAKA 00000919 003 OF 003 providing grants to Bangladeshi scholars to attend BDI's 2009 Harvard Conference, and the Ambassador will attend that event, along with representatives from SCA. These initial initiatives have been very positive. K) If post has received unsolicited requests from the diaspora community, please share the nature the requests, the considerations post took into account in formulating respective responses, and the outcomes of interaction. Many of our unsolicited requests relate to cultural exchanges, and include requests for visa assistance for Bangladeshi artists traveling to the United States. Our commercial section interacts with Bangladeshi-American entrepreneurs interested in doing business in Bangladesh. L) To what extent has post designed or participated in public diplomacy programs customized to diaspora community needs and interests? Does post anticipate taking advantage of such opportunities in the future? (Ref. A is one example.) We have focused our diaspora-related public diplomacy interaction on academic exchanges. We would be eager to expand on these opportunities. One possibility would be to tap into Bangladeshi American expertise for speaker programs and also to tie-in these initiatives with other exchange and visitor programs. M) In planning future programs and anticipating requests for assistance from diaspora community actors, what types of knowledge management tools and information materials would be most helpful to action officers at post? If the Department were to develop a reach-back program to academics in the field of diaspora community engagement, what are post's preferences for accessing such a mechanism? The Department could assist us by funding research into the Bangladeshi community in the United States. This could include a mapping exercise which would catalogue the existing Bangladeshi American groups and associations as well as the state-by-state population of the diaspora community. ¶3. (U) Mission Dhaka points of contact on diaspora engagement are PolOff Partha Mazumdar and PAO Lauren Lovelace. MORIARTY