Search the Community

The Bangladesh and United States are set to sign two important bilateral defence agreements including: General Security Of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) Acquisition and Cross Servicing Agreement (ACSA) GSOMIA The GSOMIA is a foundational government-to-government bilateral agreement that will permit greater collaboration and sharing of classified military information in the form of intelligence and classified information US defence equipment. GSOMIA is a reciprocal, legally-binding agreement that ensures governments understand and commit to protect classified military information at an equivalent level of security. “It does not obligate or commit governments to share classified information or material, it only ensures equivalent protection of the information if shared,” the official said. Washington has GSOMIA agreements with 76 partners across the globe, including several countries in South Asia. GSOMIA serves to strengthen cooperation to advance shared interests of trusted partners. As the US-Bangladesh relationship continues to grow, GSOMIA is essential to enabling the cooperation we both seek. “For Foreign Military Sales (FMS) or GSOMIA, our security authorities would work closely with your security authorities to develop a security plan and standard operating procedures to implement required security measures.” ACSA The purpose of the ACSA is to allow the US and partner nation forces to procure and pay for common types of logistical support, supplies, and services in a way that simplifies cooperation. “ACSA agreements do not in any way commit a partner nation to military action nor do they authorise the stationing of ships, aircraft, or military personnel in foreign countries.” “They only serve to simplify the procurement and payment of logistic support, supplies, and services between partner forces,” said the official. The United States has an ACSA agreement with over 100 countries, including India and Sri Lanka. As a mutual logistics support agreement, for example, an ACSA could facilitate the transfer of fuel from the Bangladesh military to visiting US naval ships participating in the annual Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) exercise. “It could also improve the United States’ ability to respond to any potential humanitarian or natural disasters involving Bangladesh and facilitate the transfer of fuel from the US military to Bangladesh naval ships operating outside of their normal areas; thereby eliminating the need to contract with commercial vendors,” the official said to cite an example.