The pattern of control of economic and trade tools and methods is not secret, including sales of hi-tech military hardware (F-16s and other weapons and units to same Asian and other countries).

'Poor' Bangladesh has to be on the guard not to fall an easy prey to these rich predators, and she has to formulate her own independent foreign policy stances. Are we importing more than essential volume of soybean oil? The traditional Bengali diet of mustard oil has declined drastically, for reasons best known to the policy makers.

Similarly, the import of powder milk has declined from Tk 400 crore per annum to Tk 200 crore, and now in the new budget import levies have been raised, as our dairy, chicken and fish farms have developed fast in a healthy manner. Foreign traders should not wholly dictate what we eat!