Speakers at discussion on Wednesday said Bangladesh needs to invest much more in diplomacy, continuing efforts to promote faster and strengthened regional economic cooperation in order to strengthen its position in the global arena and continue its progress further.

“We need to invest much more in reaching out to our ASEAN neighbours …and continuing our efforts to promote faster and strengthened regional economic cooperation, regional economic integration in South Asia,” said former ambassador Farooq Sobhan while addressing the Dhaka tribune panel discussion.

Dhaka Tribune in collaboration with the Norwegian Embassy organised the discussion on "Bangladesh as Current and Future Regional and Global Player" at a city hotel.

Farooq Sobhan said Bangladesh needs to invest much more in its diplomacy particularly in the field of economic and public diplomacy. “We need to expand the number of embassies to strengthen our diplomatic services,” he said.

Noting that globalization and multilateralism are on the retreat, he said the second cold war has already begun. “That poses a challenge for Bangladesh as it has been a strong advocate and support for multilateralism and the UN and the UN systems,” he said.

Farooq Sobhan, also former foreign secretary, said Bangladesh has been a strong advocate for the regional cooperation and regional economic integration in Asia Pacific Region, South Asia, and linking South Asia to South East Asia.

Bangladesh had also played a critical role in the establishment of SAARC which is now in the doldrums. It was also an active player from the start of BIMSTEC and played a key role in the formation of BBIN, he said.

“At the moment, all these initiatives are suffering from the current global situations as rivalries and tensions have increased. And there is increasing pressure on small states including Bangladesh to take positions in favour of one grouping or other,” he said.

Farooq Sobhan said Bangladesh is now trying to extend its diplomacy into Africa and leverage successfully its peacekeeping operations. “We are trying very hard towards strengthening our relations with the ASEAN countries,” he said.

The former ambassador said Bangladesh needs to strengthen relations with various regional groupings and entities, in particular European Union.

Farooq Sobhan said there is a price to pay for the country’s graduation from the LDC and it is going to lose some market access benefits.

“In order to qualify GSP plus, we will need to address a number of issues including labour standards, human rights as well as enter into a number of international agreements,” he said.

Former ambassador Shamsher Mobin Chowdhury said both China and India have converged on a number of areas. “Being players of today’s global politics, they know their soft power diplomacy connectivity and enhance economic and military cooperation with smaller countries in the neighbourhood especially Bangladesh can bring higher political and economic dividends,” he said.

He said Bangladesh must offer more, beginning with the fact that it would soon be graduating into a middle income nation, that it has a huge market and recorded consistent economic growth in recent times.

Mentioning that Bangladesh shares maritime and land boundaries with Myanmar and India, he said it is effectively the link in the chain that connects South and SouthEast Asia.

“But it also poses a challenge for Bangladesh to position itself in an evolving geopolitical scenario and try to preserve and protect its own national interests while maintaining healthy relationships with key friends in Asia and beyond. This is a challenge for a country like Bangladesh that must be ready to face and deal with it,” he said.

He said Bangladesh believes in the concept of using diplomacy as the first line of defence and for resolution of disputes. “It has been consistent in pursuing mutually beneficial bilateral, regional and trans-regional relationships. It has demonstrated its capacity and resolved to deal firmly with extremism and terrorism,” he said.

The former diplomat said Bangladesh has recognition as a responsible neigbour and regional player as it provided shelter to more than a million Myanmar refugees fleeing persecution at home.

Executive Director of Centre for Policy Dialogue Dr Fahmida Khatun hoped that Bangladeshi entrepreneurs will be able to withstand it after losing duty-free quota-free market access in the post-graduation period.

“Even after the graduation, they will continue to benefit from the preferential access because of their associations with trade agreements. So we have to make a full effort to become a member of such big trade blocs,” she said.

Noting that now trade blocs are not only trade blocs rather it is a comprehensive economic partnership, she said “It (trade bloc) is about investment, connectivity, services sector and intellectual property rights. So, we really need to prepare for that. We have to reform major regulatory measures and also improve our skills,” she added.

“Unless we improve our productivity, we can’t remain competitive and provide a higher salary to the workers and ensure decent work (during the post-graduation period),” she said.

Dr Fahmida said many countries could not make any progress in terms of GDP during the Covid-19 pandemic, but Bangladesh’s growth was 5.2 percent (according to the government’s estimation) in 2022 fiscal year which is exceptionally good. “Even if it is 3-4 percent, it is also very good performance,” she said.

She said Bangladesh is not only recipient of support, but also supporting other countries. Bangladesh provided US$ 150 million to Sri Lanka and now Maldives is asking for support.

She said the social development model that Bangladesh has achieved is an example across the world and Bangladesh’s climate adaptation model is also now replicated in many African countries. “Over the years, we have developed the model of adaptation also and local solutions,” she added.

Norwegian Ambassador to Bangladesh Espen Rikter-Svendsen, AFP Bureau Chief Shafiqul Alam and Editor of Prothom Alo English Ayesha Kabir also spoke at the discussion moderated by Editor of Dhaka Tribune Zafar Sobhan.