The Rise of Bengal Tiger: Potentials of Trade and Investment among Bangladesh and the EU Countries

Focusing on the 50 years of rise of the Bengal Tiger, Professor Shibli Rubayat-Ul-Islam, Chairman of the BSEC, highlighted that Bangladesh is the 8th most populous country of the world (169 million) in a land area similar to the state of New York (148,460 square km) with a GNI per capita of $2824, which makes its density of population the highest among all countries with a population over 10 million.

Stressing that Bangladesh stands on a very strategic position in South Asia, situated between the land of sustainable prosperity European Union, growing China, dynamic Middle East, incredible India and flourishing Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Singapore, he added:

Sheikh Hasina.

Under her leadership during the last 14 years, there has been tremendous growth in a variety of sectors, including poverty alleviation, education, healthcare, power generation, infrastructure development and Bangladesh has been labelled as South Asia’s economic miracle.

From 2006 to 2022, the GDP grew from 5.4 to 7.25 percent, per capita income increased from $543 to $2,824 dollars, foreign reserves rose from $0,74 billion to $30.83 billion, export revenue surged from $10,05 billion to $52,97 billion, remittances increased from $4.8 billion to $24,03 billion, investment to GDP ratio hiked from 22.78 percent to 32.05 percent.

At the same time, poverty rates decreased from 41,51 percent to 18,7 percent and average life expectancy increased from 59 years to 72.8 years.

Literacy rate increased from 45 percent to 75,6 percent, which has been accompanied by an increase in the number of internet users from 0.23 percent to 73.5 percent as well as a rise in women participation in primary education from 54 percent to 98,2 percent. Moreover, Bangladesh is the most gender-equal country among South Asian nations, ranking 71st in the world according to the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2022.

Prime Minister of Bangladesh Hasina was named among the top three inspirational women leaders who have demonstrated extraordinary leadership during Covid-19 pandemic in the Commonwealth.

Bangladesh is on track to become a $500 billion economy by 2023 according to Standard Chartered & a $1 trillion economy by 2040 according to a Bloomberg study.

EU-Bangladesh relations date back to 1973: in 2001, the EU-Bangladesh cooperation agreement was signed, which laid the foundation of trade relations with the EU that provided Bangladesh with duty-free access to the Union market under Everything But Arms (EBA) initiative.

Having a young population with a median age of 27,6 years Bangladesh is the 34th largest economy in the world, the largest jute exporter, second largest garment exporter, third largest vegetable producer and fourth largest rice and fish producer.

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