|
|
|
|
Bangladesh and Its Giant Neighbors |
|
|
|
Globalist Bookshelf > Global Development
Bangladesh and Its Giant Neighbors
By
Muhammad Yunus | Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Stable infrastructure, good governance and reduced corruption could help
Bangladesh lift itself out of poverty. In this Globalist Bookshelf
feature from Creating a World Without Poverty, Muhammad Yunus examines
the importance of Bangladesh's geographic location — and explores how the
country could become a global mega-port.
angladesh is a lucky country. It can easily create a dynamic economy by
exploiting its attractive geographical location, flanked by two giant,
rapidly growing neighbors — India and China.
India has already achieved an 8% GDP growth rate while China has
surpassed 11% and both have reduced their poverty rate to less than 25%.
They are becoming such political and economic powerhouses that the whole
world is paying serious attention to them.
Profit by association
With our giant neighbors bringing the whole business world to their
doorsteps, Bangladesh can benefit simply from being in
In today's world, countries generally don't dominate one another
through military might — but rather through economic power.
the neighborhood. Growing neighbors are convenient sources of technology,
experience, skills and contacts.
Bangladesh, in turn, can be an attractive venue for both countries for
all kinds of outsourcing. If even a small portion of the business flowing
into India or China comes to our shores, we will be a fast-moving
economy.
Some Bangladeshis worry that our smaller country will be overwhelmed by
its giant Indian neighbor if we open our borders for free trade. India,
they say, will flood our markets with goods — taking advantage of the
free trade zone — and stifle the potential for nascent industries in
Bangladesh.
Benefits of trade
But India already "floods" the Bangladeshi market with goods,
only through unofficial channels that generate no government revenues
(other than bribes to border personnel and customs officials). According
to figures from Bangladesh Bank, officially recognized imports from India
exceeded $1.8 billion in 2005-6, and estimates are that unofficial trade
may be as much as 50% higher.
Free trade rules will legalize this unrecognized flow of goods and
capture revenues for the government in the process. If reasonable
provisions for adjustments by businesses and communities are made — and
if safeguards are put in place to prevent exploitation of the weak by the
powerful — small countries can benefit just as much from free trade as
large ones.
Trade agreements
Bilateral free-trade agreements are already in effect between some of the
SAARC countries — for example, India and Sri Lanka. If tiny Sri Lanka,
with a population under twenty million, can benefit from open borders
with India, why not Bangladesh?
Bangladesh can be an attractive venue for both China and India for all
kinds of outsourcing.
There are many reasons why Bangladesh should have an excellent
relationship with India, but tensions between the two countries remain
needlessly high. Although Bangladesh remains grateful to India for its
military help during our liberation war, a pervasive feeling of fear
about India persists in Bangladeshi minds.
Perhaps this is understandable — India is seven times bigger than
Bangladesh, surrounds Bangladesh almost completely, has the third largest
army in the world, and is predominantly Hindu rather than Muslim
(although India, in fact, has a larger Muslim population than
Bangladesh).
Exploiting the poor
Some Bangladeshi politicians exploit Bangladeshi anxieties by blaming
India for anything that goes wrong in Bangladesh and promising to
"protect" Bangladesh from the unnamed threats supposedly posed
by India.
For its part, India complains about illegal immigration by poor
Bangladeshis looking for work in India. (In this respect, India and
Bangladesh have a relationship comparable to that between the United
States and Mexico, where border crossings by poor people in search of
economic opportunities have also caused international tension.)
The global stage
Singapore became one of the most prosperous countries in the world
because of its location as a strategic port. There is no reason why Cox's
Bazar can't play a similar role in the future development of
Bangladesh.
India also complains that Bangladesh harbors and supports armed guerrilla
leaders from Eastern India. Bangladeshi leaders continue to deny this
allegation, but it does not seem to disappear.
In an atmosphere of general distrust, it is easy to stoke people's fears
— in this case, the fear of domination by a giant neighbor. But in
today's world, countries generally don't dominate one another through
military might but rather through economic power.
If Bangladesh remains a poor country, everybody will dominate her, not
just India. Moving up the economic ladder as quickly as possible is the
best protection against every form of foreign domination.
Advantageous location
Bangladesh's strategic location can be the key factor in shaping our
country's future. Located at a regional crossroads, Bangladesh can be a
converging point for international trade for all its neighbors. All that
it has to do is provide shipping facilities for all these countries —
landlocked Nepal and Bhutan, virtually landlocked eastern India, western
China, and northern Myanmar.
These areas have a total population of over 300 million and fast-growing
economies with per-capita annual incomes rising steadily beyond the
$1,000 mark.
Building new ports
Bangladesh has to prepare itself to take on a big development venture —
to create world-class port facilities for
Bangladesh has to to create world-class port facilities for the
growing economy and build a network of superhighways to connect these
countries with the port facilities.
the growing economies of Bangladesh as well as her neighbors, and to
build a network of superhighways to connect these countries with the port
facilities.
This deep-sea mega-port may be built near Cox's Bazar, a city 90 miles
south of Chittagong near the Myanmar border. This mega-port could serve
this entire region and bring significantly greater prosperity to millions
of people.
Under current conditions, Bangladeshi goods are at a great disadvantage
compared to those of other nations. It takes several times longer to
process products manufactured in Bangladesh for export than in Singapore,
and the average cost for exporters in Bangladesh is almost double than
that in Indonesia.
Accommodating for heavy traffic
A mega-port at Cox's Bazar, equipped to accommodate the vast new vessels
now being used in global trade and the new ships with even deeper draft
that will be built in the coming years, will solve these problems.
The port should be equipped with the latest cargo-handling technology and
linked to neighboring regions and countries by a network of super
highways that will support a continuous flow of vehicles carrying modern
containers.
Singapore became one of the most prosperous countries in the world
because of its location as a strategic port. There is no reason why Cox's
Bazar can't play a similar role in the future development of Bangladesh.
Editor's Note: This feature is adapted from CREATING A WORLD WITHOUT
POVERTY by Muhammad Yunus. Copyright 2007 Public Affairs. Reprinted with
permission of the publisher.
|
|
|
|
|
