United News of Bangladesh

One of the first things I noticed, the night I arrived in Bangladesh, was that the moon lies on its side here as if it's smiling. This showed me how far away from home I was, closer to the equator, but also foreshadowed that the main thing the moon causes is stronger here: the tides. The first days in Dhaka were a flood of impressions. Fantastic impressions — of Iftars with the tastiest food — to playing guitar in the park. In such a bustling city, where at every street corner, something interesting seems to be going on. Then came the start of our cycling trip: through Dhaka towards the port. On Thursday afternoon (March 27), we criss-crossed through broad motorways surrounded by hordes of tuktuks, rikshaws, trucks, motors, making a chaotic symphony of honks, toots, and sirens, as well as narrow alleys full of shoppers, stalls, and all sorts of different shops. The people were leaving Dhaka for their hometowns to celebrate the final days of Ramadan, and we were right in between this high tide, flowing back into a sea of villages. Buzzing in my head on the boat/launch towards Barishal, catching any sleep was no easy feat, so it failed, but fueled by excitement around 6 am we arrived and started cycling. How far? Around 120 km. How long? Hopefully we'll be there before sunset. Now we were complete, four Bagh Bikers on their way towards the Sundarbans, and after some first kilometers on the main roads, we gathered the courage and curiosity to try out the little and adventurous roads. Finally, ebbed, because although we were biking slower now, we saw so much beauty along the way: beautiful landscapes, forest, fields, and little villages.

The road to saving the Sundarbans has always demanded more than just talk—it requires sweat, blisters, and the kind of stubborn hope that keeps you pedaling when the sun burns, and the path turns rough. On March 28-30, 2025, Dutch Ambassador Andre Carstens proved just that, trading diplomatic corridors for the dust and grit of a 163-kilometer cycling expedition from Barishal to the heart of tiger country: WildTeam’s Conservation Biology Centre, TigerHouse, in Joymoni in the Sundarbans. Accompanied by his son, Carstens Jacobus Hermanus, and two other Dutch friends, Niels van den Berge (former Member of Parliament in the Netherlands) and Jongman Karin, Andre wasn’t leading a polished delegation or a media caravan. This was a quiet, deliberate pilgrimage—one that mirrored a similar journey twelve years ago, when a ragtag team of conservationists, diplomats, and students pedaled rickshaws across Bangladesh to sound the alarm for the Bengal tiger. Back then, the mission was to drag the tiger’s plight into the spotlight. This time, it was about feeling the pulse of the Sundarbans firsthand—the heat, the whispers of the mangroves, and the weight of its fragile survival. Andre Carstens, along with the EU Deputy Head of Delegation, Dr. Bernd Spanier, visited the WildTeam Conservation Biology Centre on January 10-11, 2025, for the first time. In less than 80 days, he returned to the same environment just to experience the challenges faced by Bengal tigers, their habitat, and the local communities while also raising awareness among national and international audiences. Andre feels that "People think the Sundarbans is just a forest, but it’s a living, breathing shield for Bangladesh. When you bike through it, you see how much it gives—and how much it’s losing."

As the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference 2025 begins, the world is at the tipping point of profound geopolitical and economic transformations. The growing disparities between Western governments and the inefficacy of governance are now a global core debate; most Global South nations are now focusing on developing interdependent regional cooperation. The shift in dynamics is indicative of the Global South taking an increasingly influential position that works to realize the vision of a group of states that are intent on creating their own path of modernization and development. The Global South presents a hopeful atmosphere in Asia by leading the way in establishing a path for sustainable economic growth. Over the years, the BFA has established itself as a leading platform for dialogue on global issues, ranging from trade and finance to technology, climate action and sustainable development. As a global platform for countries of the region to build cooperation, mutual trust and forge solutions of common benefit to the wider Global South, the forum is the first of its kind. The rise of China, India, Vietnam, Indonesia, and other emerging economies continues, highlighting the Global South's increasing impact on shaping a future world with a global power balance. Meanwhile, Europe and the U.S. are beset by growing political turmoil, and the Middle East struggles with instability; nations in Asia engage in increasingly constructive dialogue on shared interests, such as China-Japan-South Korea trilateral talks. These efforts highlight the potential of regional cooperation to surpass old divisions and build new paths forward. The rapid economic growth of Global South countries demonstrates that the Global South is not merely a passive player but an active participant in the global economy. These nations are uniquely positioned to drive innovation and modernization by developing strategies suited to their specific conditions while responding to the worldwide demand for progress. The Global South's economic rise is no longer a prediction; it's a fact. Today (as of 2023), these nations alone account for 42 percent of the world's GDP, and this figure has been steadily increasing as emerging economies declined and significant Asian economies grew. Emerging markets, of which many in the Global South, including the powerhouses of China, Brazil and South Africa, now account for over 50 percent of global GDP in 2024. Over the last two decades, more than 1 billion people in developing countries have been lifted out of extreme poverty, a testament to the Global South’s capacity for transformation. Yet, this momentum must be harnessed strategically to bridge the North-South divide. During the past decade, the Asian region has undergone a profound transformation across multiple sectors, amplifying the Global South's potential, out of which decentralized supply chains have emerged, linking landlocked nations from East Asia to Central Asia and Europe via expanding rail networks, such as the China-Europe Railway Express, which has grown to connect more than 220 cities across 25 European countries since its inception. Simultaneously, the East-West sea routes have seen significant development with the rise of major ports like Hambantota in Sri Lanka, Gwadar in Pakistan, new facilities in Chittagong Port in Bangladesh and Tuas Maga Port in Singapore. In India, new greenfield ports are built with associated infrastructure, such as railway lines through the Sagarmala project and the National Maritime Development Program, which emphasize Asian growth. These developments not only enhance connectivity for landlocked states like Nepal and Central Asian nations but also position Asia as a hub for global commerce, building an antifragile trade system with an alternative towards uniform East-West shipping routes. However, modernization for the Global South cannot be a rerun of the models used in previous decades. The future course must suit these regional nations' unique opportunities and challenges. As Chinese President Xi Jinping underlined at the 2023 BFA, the future of the Global South must be based on values that advance peace, security and collaboration. In tackling security issues, his six pledges under the Global Security Initiative emphasize the significance of inclusiveness, peaceful dispute resolution, sovereignty respect, and comprehensive and cooperative security. These ideas are essential for maintaining political stability and creating an atmosphere that supports economic development and advancement. In particular, the digital transformation presents vast opportunities for the Global South nations to overcome traditional development stages. Countries like China, India and Vietnam are already making strides in technology and digital infrastructure, which can accelerate their economic and social development. At the same time, fostering innovation in green technologies and sustainable industries will help the Global South nations meet the challenges of climate change while ensuring future prosperity.   Yasiru Ranaraja, a special commentator on current affairs for CGTN, is a researcher on maritime affairs and expert on Belt and Road Initiative development. He is also the founding director of the Belt Road Initiative Sri Lanka (BRISL), an international development organization and think tank in Sri Lanka.

I was in deep sleep in the middle of the night, when the call came with the shocking news of my dear friend Arefin’s passing away. A few days earlier I had heard Arefin fell ill while trying to draw some money at an ATM booth at Dhaka Club. He was immediately rushed to the ICU at BIRDEM. His only daughter Propa reached out to me in Singapore and asked if I could help contact some hospitals to see if they would be able to treat her father. She shared the case report & I consulted NUH (National University Hospital), Neurosurgery department. Propa at my request shared Arefin’s ongoing prescriptions. Doctors at NUH were concerned whether the patient could travel from Dhaka due to his existing health condition. I got the following text from Propa the following day: “Thank you so much, Enayet uncle. This means a lot. Unfortunately, after hearing back from multiple international hospitals that I had reached out to, it seemed there really wasn’t much hope. I think deep down, we knew this, but we just needed to make sure we explored every possible option for our own peace of mind and to know that we did everything we could for him.” The situation was unfolding very fast, I could feel that. My memories with Arefin had been flooding me ever since I heard he was admitted to BIRDEM. We were class friends at Dhaka University’s Department of Mass Communication and Journalism (MCJ). We obtained our Master’ degrees together and joined as lecturers at the MCJ department at Dhaka University on the same day in 1980. We were also born just one day apart - Arefin on 26 October 1953, me a day later. I left teaching to start Dhaka Courier, the weekly magazine and subsequently founded United News of Bangladesh (UNB), the news agency. Arefin was very helpful in building a bridge between the MCJ department of Dhaka University and our two institutions Dhaka Courier & UNB. Many students continue to join our staff as interns or cubs while still completing their studies. Apart from the graduates who join the reporting staff. Later I spent some time as a part-time teacher and often was assigned the duty to be an external examiner. I always found it a breath of fresh air, whenever I had the chance to share notes, a conversation, or meetings, with Arefin. I spent much of my formative years on the Dhaka University campus, as my father, following voluntary retirement from Pakistan Govt. service in Karachi as Chief of the Education Planning Commission, took up the job of Controller of Examinations at Dhaka University. I used to visit the residence of the vice chancellor of Dhaka University along with my parents when Dr M.O. Ghani was the vice chancellor in the 60s. My visit to the same residence took place in 2010 almost 50 years later when Arefin took over as the vice chancellor. I remember how affectionately Arefin and his lovely wife received me. I went around the spacious lawn and the beautiful heritage building on Fuller Road, before rounding up the visit with the customary nice conversation and dinner. After Arefin retired as vice chancellor, I met him a few times when he was chairman of our National Museum. His last visit to UNB was as our guest of honour during our annual District Correspondents’ Conference. I consider it my good fortune to have known Arefin as a dear and trusted friend. We shared many moments of joy and pain. I will always remember his ready, soothing smile.  I bid you goodbye my friend, remembering your smiling face. Stay well till then, to borrow a phrase from another dear friend Afsan Chowdhury, we will meet again in Celestial space.   Enayetullah Khan, Editor-in-Chief United News of Bangladesh (UNB) and Dhaka Courier.

In the last year or so, our Ministers have become known for saying far too much and doing far too little about it. Whether it’s a junior minister demanding sex on the phone or the recent far more embarrassing statement of Foreign Minister A.K. Abdul Momen about help from India to keep the regime in Bangladesh alive, both are damaging. It basically points to a lack of public relations skill and preparedness to say what can be said in public gathering.  Momen is more embarrassing because he is the “foreign” minister with international implications. What Momen said   Speaking  at a Janmastomi programme in Chittagong to a largely Hindu community audience,  he said the following as reported in the media. "When I went to New Delhi, I told the Indian government that Sheikh Hasina must be sustained. Bangladesh will continue to march towards development and will truly become a country free of communalism under her leadership." "If someone takes the country to the path of instability to shake Sheikh Hasina's government, then it is a danger for everyone. We want stability," Momen said. The foreign minister said they told the Indian government that the two countries will work in such a way that neither side promotes instigative behaviours to maintain law and order and stability. He said thousands of people from Bangladesh visit India every year and many Indians work in Bangladesh as there is development in Bangladesh. "This has been possible as the two countries are going through a Golden Chapter." He said there are some wicked people and fundamentalists who create noise though the government remains silent.”  ( The Business Standard .August 19, 2022) Read: Momen explains what he meant by 'heaven' The meaning and implications Much of what he has said is facts. India is a major factor in Bangladesh and other south Asian countries. Under previous regimes when hostility was part of the strategy in dealing with India, the results were not positive. Many visit India and many Indians work here too. The border protection investment is a fact too but whether India will pull back under any regime is questionable. What Momen was trying to do is paint his government as a  “secular’ one in sushil parlance and hoping to compare the current AL regime favorably with the BNP as “anti-Hindu” . It was targeted to a Hindu audience obviously.  But that it carried wider political meaning to the rest was ignored.  It also made the Hindus look closer to India, something grossly unfair to all. Basically, it was the wrong place, wrong audience and wrong statement as consequences show. This would not have been a cause of such hullabaloo had it not been India either which carries political luggage in Bangladesh.  Momen has been critical of Indian media when it comes to their reporting on Bangladesh-China relations but Indo-Bangla relations is a politically sensitive one and Momen has goofed unfortunately in talking the way he did.     Read: Momen once again clarifies the controversy over his “heaven” remark It’s best if ministers are briefed on what to say and not say and where to go and say what. Their lack of PR skills has hurt Bangladesh's image. It backfired and hurt his current regime as well.

Fifty years at the top is an achievement for any organization and BRAC has done that. Abed bhai came from a history that suited the first fifty years. But that history is rapidly ending and the challenge for the current BRAC leadership is to do a new “Abed”.  As it celebrates the past, the future kicks at the door. The old BRAC is over with its “noblesse oblige” values to do good for others less advantageous. In the post 1971 turmoil and turnover, NGOs were the last resort of the well-meaning and dependent middle class who got left out in the post-Independence class-power distribution. But NGOs are coming to an end. If BRAC is to survive, it needs to look at a future without borrowed wisdom from the West and explore and use the lesson from why despite so much denial, the rural poor have done so well. Also read: UNDP to work with BRAC for accelerating pace of poverty reduction Intermediaries in decline BRAC is like all development organizations - an intermediary outfit. It carried resources of the better off world, mostly external to the rural poverty zones. It sustained the poor and as food related distress declined,  graduation from ultra-poverty increased and general health and social conditions got better overall.  But they were old battles and the BRAC after 50 faces a world in which people on their own tackled Covid even as the West predicted disaster while withholding vaccines for the rest of the world. The “rights-based” idea spaces dominated by the NGO is largely replaced by the economic , more natural than elite constructed. Increasing strength of the BRAC client population means old services are not as required as before. Micro-credit as an internal co-funder of its operations, is very important but the donor world is battered beyond belief. In the last 2 years, our most shocking discussion was with a donor who said, “GOB doesn’t listen to us anymore as it has so much more money.”  The mental shift has to be from “Bangladesh as poor” to “Bangladesh as potentially well off” . It’s the Liberal-Left that stigmatizes wealth making, those who are not in poverty themselves. This colonial hangover must go and as China has shown wealth making of the majority is a social change tool. Also read: BRAC continues emergency services for Rohingyas, locals amid Covid-19 pandemic: BRAC Global ED Into the future with dirty hands and all BRAC didn’t want to enter the migration sector as a player because Abed bhai didn’t want people crowding the office and parades of unhappy clients. He didn’t then but when he did try it didn’t work. That was a lost opportunity in 2005. It’s the migration money that has become the most powerful agents of change in the rural areas. Rural intermediation has also grown but it is located in economics and exclusive to them as experiences of the Ultra-poverty alleviation shows.   Banking is weak because most loans go through connections in the formal sector. He thought that Bkash would make banking easier and it has.  The rise of digital money also shows that. Clearly, he was thinking on the edge of the last historical phase but the focus on economics was imagined as support of the poor and micro entrepreneurs. That has changed as SME enterprise and rural bonds and savings markets are bigger than ever. Agriculture and Aarong  are small time sectors. Its economic enhancement projects need to go to scale. BRAC needs to reimagine the future as Abed bhai did 50 years back.     Increasingly, the people show they are able to organize their life better than the GOB does and as donors prescribe. Hanging on to SDGs should not be BRAC’s priority but high intensity economic expansion of people should be.  A much strengthened rural population doesn't need NGOs as much as they did till the 2000s.  BRAC needs to get a makeover. Hopefully, it's goodbye to the old BRAC and welcome to the new BRAC. Congrats. 

António Vitorino