CP of Bangladesh joins rally against US Trade Agreement and foreign control of national assets

The demonstration brought together left-wing parties and labour organisations to demand the cancellation of the trade agreement signed between Bangladesh and the United States under the previous interim government.

The alliance raised four principal demands: cancellation of the US trade agreement; an end to plans to lease the New Mooring Container Terminal (NCT) at Chattogram Port to the UAE-based company DP World; rejection of proposals for open-pit coal mining in Phulbari; and a commitment by the government not to involve Bangladesh in imperialist military or war alliances.

The alliance argued that the trade agreement threatened Bangladesh’s economy, independence, sovereignty and national security. Its representatives criticised the BNP-led government for moving ahead with an agreement negotiated by the interim administration, without adequately addressing public concerns. They also connected the agreement to wider questions of foreign influence over Bangladesh’s economy and strategic infrastructure.

The proposed DP World agreement was another central issue. Speakers warned that transferring the operation of the New Mooring Container Terminal to a foreign company would place an important national asset under external control. They also criticised successive governments for pursuing arrangements to hand over port facilities to foreign operators.

The Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB) had been involved in preparing the mobilisation from the outset. The decision to hold the 30 October rally was taken at a meeting on 1 October at the party’s headquarters in Dhaka, attended by representatives of the alliance and several labour organisations. CPB President Sazzad Zahir Chandan participated in that meeting.

The demonstration brought together opposition to the US trade agreement with broader concerns about economic sovereignty, foreign control of strategic infrastructure and the country's political and economic independence. For the CPB and its allies, these issues are linked to the defence of working people's interests and the struggle for a Bangladesh free from imperialist intervention.