Reiterating the call for talks among major political parties to resolve the current political stalemate, Chinese Ambassador in Dhaka Li Jun yesterday said dialogue is much better than confrontation.

"As a friend, I can't tell you what should be done or what should not. I am not in such a position. But as a friend, I only know dialogue is much, much better than confrontation,” he told a seminar in the capital responding to a query.

The Chinese envoy suggested that any move towards dialogue for finding a solution must be encouraged. "I believe it's the political leaders and it's the people of Bangladesh, you know the best what this country now needs under such a situation," he said.

Asked whether he got any response from the government after Khaleda Zia's suggestion for talks between the Awami League general secretary and the BNP acting secre-

tary general to resolve political crisis, Li Jun said he is yet to get any response from the government side. Rather he said, “The government does not have any obligation to respond, I just hope."

The Institute of Governance Studies (IGS) of Brae University organised the seminar titled "China's Look South and Bangladesh's Look East Policy: Convergences and Constraints” at AS Mahmud Seminar Hall of The Daily Star Centre.

President of the Bangladesh Enterprise Institute Farooq Sobhan; Chairman of Equity Property Management Limited Dr Moinul Islam Mahmud; Prof Amena Mohsin and Prof Delwar Hossain of the international relations department of Dhaka University; former ambassadors Humayun Kabir and Munshi Faiz Ahmad and Kallyan Party President Syed Muhammad Ibrahim, among others, spoke at the discussion.

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Research Fellow of IGS M Shahidul Islam and Research Fellow and Deputy Director of China Centre for Contemporary World Studies Dr Hu Hao presented keynote papers at the event while IGS Executive Director Dr Sultan Hafeez Rahman was in the chair.

Farooq Sobhan emphasised Bangladesh's integration with Asean, China and other countries as well as regional connectivity for economic benefit.

He suggested a longterm strategic thinking for the economic betterment. "Any long-term strategic thinking has been absent over the successive govern-

ments as we look back. We do certainly need to think about what should be our foreign policy, not for during the next five years but for the next 25 years. We must put in place all the instruments to implement this policy."

Hu Hao said the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) economic corridor is an essential programme for linking China with its neighbours and for connecting East Asia with South Asia.

Emphasising ocean econ-omy development, Shahidul Islam said Bangladesh has not paid much attention to the Bay of Bengal until recently.