Sources at the foreign ministry said the ministries of commerce, industries and education, and the divisions of power and economic relations are the offices that mostly ignore the rules.

According to rule 15 of the Rules of Business, 1996 that allocates responsibilities of the ministries and divisions, without prior consultation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs no ministry shall dispose a case that affects the foreign relation of Bangladesh.

But ignoring the rule, those ministries and divisions are directly initiating steps to resolve bilateral problems, holding negotiations with their counterparts, said the Cabinet Division circular issued on May 22.

The scope to forge effective and fruitful diplomatic strategy to resolve any bilateral issue with a country is reduced as the foreign ministry is not informed about these activities, it said.

Sources said only the LGRD and cooperatives ministry keeps the foreign ministry informed in most cases about its initiatives with foreign donor agencies or countries.

In many cases, the Bangladesh delegations to a country do not inform either the foreign ministry or the Bangladesh mission in that country, sources said. "Only when they get into any trouble they communicate with the Bangladesh mission," said a senior official at the foreign ministry.

Officials going abroad for training also do not inform the foreign ministry about their visits although such agreements are signed between the governments of Bangladesh and the foreign country concerned.

Cabinet Division sources said the foreign ministry officials at a recent inter-ministerial meeting raised the allegations.

The Cabinet Division circular asked all ministries and divisions to follow the Rules of Business while dealing with matters that may affect Bangladesh's relations with other countries.

In 2004, Bangladesh's diplomatic relation with China suddenly deteriorated allegedly over allowing a Taiwanese company to open its office in Dhaka, the signboard of which displayed the name of its country as "People's Republic of Taiwan."

In the face of severe criticism at a meeting of the parliamentary standing committee on foreign ministry on March 10, 2005, the foreign ministry officials blamed the matter on the Board of Investment.

The parliamentary body observed that the incident affected Bangladesh's relations with China, a "trusted friend" of Bangladesh, and asked the foreign ministry to make amends for the damage.