The German ambassador to Bangladesh, Achim Tröster, has stated that Germany is creating a special kind of climate development partnership with Bangladesh to assist in mitigating the looming threat of climate change.

He made this statement while giving a speech at a seminar titled “Celebrating 50 Years of German – Bangladesh Diplomatic Relations”.

The seminar was hosted by the Centre for Governance Studies (CGS) and took place on 28 March at the Six Season Hotel, Dhaka. On this day, 50 years ago, East Germany recognised the independence of Bangladesh, becoming the first European nation to recognise Bangladesh as an independent nation.

To commemorate the occasion, CGS, in partnership with Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) Bangladesh, organised the event where the ambassador was a guest of honour.

The other guest of honour was Lt. Col. Muhammad Faruk Khan (Retd.) MP, Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and former Minister. He made a brief statement emphasising the need for further collaboration between Bangladesh and Germany.

Felix Kolbitz, Resident Representative, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Bangladesh, and Dr Manjur A Chowdhury, Chairman, Centre for Governance Studies (CGS), gave their opening remarks in the program.

The keynote speech for the event was presented by Md Touhid Hossain, former Foreign Secretary of the Government of Bangladesh. The Keynote paper was titled “Prospects and Challenges in Bangladesh’s Relationship with Germany and the European Union on its 50th Anniversary of Independence.”

Following the presentation of the keynote to the audience, a panel discussion on the important points of the paper was held.

Zillur Rahman, Executive Director of CGS, moderated the panel discussion. He also engaged the panelists to answer important questions regarding aspects of German-Bangladesh bilateral relations, such as matters of human rights violations and the end of preferential trade agreements due to LDC graduation.

The Panelists in the event included Charles Whiteley, Ambassador, European Union (E.U.) Delegation to Bangladesh; Nasim Ferdous, Former ambassador, Advisor, Centre for Governance Studies; Faiyaz Murshid Kazi, Director General (West Europe and European Union), Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dhaka; Abdul Muktadir, Chair, Bangladesh-German Chamber of Commerce & Industry Committees, and Senior Vice-President, Bangladesh Association of Pharmaceutical Industries; and Rubaiyat Hossain, Filmmaker, Writer and Interdisciplinary Researcher.

Felix Kolbitz stated that Germany and Bangladesh had changed drastically in the last 50 years. His opening remarks highlight some areas of potential collaboration between Germany and Bangladesh, such as academic and cultural exchange projects. He concluded that strong partnerships are necessary to solve global challenges.

Dr Manjur A Chowdhury stated that East Germany was the first country in Europe to recognise Bangladesh’s independence. Currently, the Bangladesh-German relationship is strong, but there is still no strategic collaboration between the two nations.

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Md Touhid Hossain’s keynote paper on Bangladesh-German relations covered various diplomatic aspects such as matters of regional security, the necessity of Bangladesh in maintaining minimal military deterrence capacity, the potential for Bangladesh to export consumer and intermediate goods to Europe, and the long term implications of the Rohingya refugee crisis.

The paper focused on the enormous amount of financial support provided by Germany and the E.U. while also indicating the lack of economic investment and capacity building in Bangladesh. The former ambassador also made a case for why a strong Bangladesh is good for Europe and Germany. He argued that, unlike other regional powers, Bangladesh is not encumbered by any preexisting security obligations and treaties. Therefore, there is absolutely no downside to forming deeper strategic relations with Bangladesh.  

Charles Whiteley stated that the Bangladesh-EU-Germany relations is too important to risk failing. He talked about issues of diversification of exports, duty-free access to the EU markets, and mutual interest in climate change mitigation among Bangladesh and the nations of the E.U.

Responding to the keynote paper, the EU ambassador stated that the current economic relationship between Bangladesh and the European countries were still not sophisticated enough to allow for a free trade agreement. This was due to the low level of Foreign Direct Investment. He, however, followed up by saying that the European investment bank is showing interest in investing in Bangladesh, particularly in terms of climate change aid and renewable energy projects.

Nasim Ferdous focused on the aspect of the keynote that talked about the state of education in Bangladesh. She stated that Germany has an opportunity here to make a difference. According to the former ambassador, Bangladesh lacks technical education, and providing such education can be a lucrative field for investment.

Faiyaz Murshid Kazi stated that Bangladesh was once wholly dependent on the U.K. to represent its interest on the international stage. However, after Brexit, we saw the need to reach out to other European nations. He went on to say that the Rohingya refugee crisis has changed the perception of Bangladesh abroad.

Now Bangladesh is being looked at as a provider of regional stability. This new perception has created greater relevance for Bangladesh in creating more strategic relations with Europe, particularly to set a buffer against ongoing regional geopolitical power struggles. He concluded that even if a Free Trade Agreement is not possible, Bangladesh should still seek to create a more sophisticated trade relation with Europe and Germany.

Abdul Muktadir reiterated the education aspect of the keynote. He stated that the German model of giving technical skills instead of normal humanities studies is absolutely necessary for Bangladesh. He criticised Bangladesh’s education system’s tendency to churn out BBA graduates who are essentially unemployable.

He stated that if we can improve the quality of education in the fields of science such as biotech, we can bring in more foreign investment. He also stated that EU and German investments in Bangladesh are not noticeable compared to the investment of China and India. He concluded that Bangladesh needs to create a situation for comfortable investment from Europe.

Rubaiyat Hossain commented on particularly women’s education in Bangladesh and how the influence of Europe and the west is gradually changing the existing culture. According to her, women in Bangladesh are now talking about feminism after finding inspiration from nations of Europe.