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Can Sazia’s winter reverie forge Bangladesh’s path beyond D8’s broken promises?

Published : Wednesday, 25 December, 2024 at 12:00 AM  Count : 415
Rajeev Ahmed
It was a hard winter evening in Dhaka, and Sazia, a young entrepreneur, stood by the Buriganga River, the misty air cloaking her in a cool hug. The shimmering water mirrored the muted city lights as the rhythmic hum of life continued. Her enterprise-exporting jute bags and garments-was flourishing, but she encountered hurdles as biting as the winter chill. She had anchored her hopes on the D8 Organization for Economic Cooperation, a coalition of nations including Bangladesh, united by grand promises of economic synergy. However, much like the fog draping the city, those promises seemed intangible and insubstantial.

Sazia had always been a dreamer, but her dreams were rooted in action. She could trace her entrepreneurial spirit back to her childhood in a modest village, where she would weave intricate designs into scraps of fabric while imagining a world far beyond her reach. That world seemed to inch closer when she launched her business, but it now felt as elusive as the mist swirling around her. The D8 had offered her a vision of global connectivity, a promise that her efforts could ripple out into a vast network of prosperity. But as the months passed, the reality felt more like a mirage.

Sazia's story parallels Bangladesh's role within the D8. On paper, the coalition's vision of enhancing trade and development among its members was ambitious. However, in practice, it remains a platform of squandered opportunities. Despite its pledge to escalate intra-D8 trade from $70 billion in 2011 to $500 billion by 2018, the figure stagnated at only $129 billion as of 2021, falling drastically short of its aspirations. For Bangladesh, the multilateralism heralded by the D8 often feels like a hollow gesture, yielding little progress. Instead, bilateral engagements have proven to be far more impactful.

Take Turkey, for instance. Sazia recently shipped a consignment of jute bags to Istanbul, where Turkish buyers, eager to adopt sustainable alternatives, welcomed her goods with enthusiasm. The Turkish market, lively with energy and innovation, was a stark contrast to the stagnant framework of the D8. While Turkey's involvement in the D8 has been peripheral-its focus largely directed toward its customs union with the EU-bilateral relations between Bangladesh and Turkey have thrived. In 2022, bilateral trade between the two nations climbed to $1.2 billion, spurred by strategic negotiations rather than multilateral forums. Turkish investment in Bangladesh's infrastructure and the expanding trade in textiles and pharmaceuticals underscore the potency of direct partnerships.

Similarly, Pakistan offers a comparable narrative. Sazia was exploring opportunities to export ready-made garments to Pakistan, a market brimming with potential. She found herself fascinated by the chemistry of tradition and modernity in Pakistan's textile industry, a sector as vibrant as Dhaka's own. Despite the shared history and cultural connections between the two nations, trade remains minimal, hampered by political tensions that the D8 has done little to alleviate. However, Bangladesh's rising pharmaceutical exports to Pakistan, which surged by 23% in 2021, underscore the promise of bilateral agreements to bypass multilateral inertia.

Indonesia, with its abundant resources, presents another opportunity. Sazia's friend recently returned from Jakarta, sharing stories of lucrative prospects in palm oil and rubber imports. Her friend's tales painted a vivid picture of sprawling plantations and busy markets, sparking Sazia's imagination. However, Bangladesh's trade deficit with Indonesia, exceeding $2.5 billion, highlights the challenges of rectifying such imbalances. While the D8's lofty rhetoric has offered no solutions, preferential trade agreements and bilateral dialogues have emerged as more pragmatic tools for addressing these disparities.

Iran's case is more tricky. Sanctions and geopolitical constraints restrict its active participation, but its wealth in energy resources holds undeniable allure. Sazia often found herself imagining what it might be like to visit Iran, to walk through its storied bazaars and witness its vast energy infrastructure. Iran's reserves-17% of the world's proven natural gas-could be transformative for energy-hungry nations like Bangladesh. However, such prospects remain unrealised within the D8 framework, which has failed to facilitate actionable partnerships.
Malaysia, on the other hand, has become a vital destination for Bangladeshi workers, with remittances exceeding $2 billion annually. This success, still, owes more to bilateral labour agreements than to any D8 initiative. The D8's promises of enhancing labour mobility and rights have yet to materialise into meaningful action. For Sazia, Malaysia's story was one of determination, a mirror to her own journey as a businesswoman routing the complications of global markets.

Despite these shortcomings, dismissing the D8 entirely would be shortsighted. The organisation serves as a platform for dialogue, fostering diplomatic goodwill among its members. Initiatives in food security and industrial collaboration, though limited in tangible outcomes, have at least sparked conversations about shared challenges. For Bangladesh, the D8 represents a symbolic connection to the global south and an affirmation of its aspirations to collaborate with peer nations.

As Sazia walked away from the riverbank, her thoughts crystallised. The D8, much like the frosty air around her, could provide an outline but no substance. It was a distant constellation, mesmerizing but unreachable, offering guidance without deliverance. For nations like Bangladesh, the path to prosperity would not be paved by collective dreams but by deliberate, bilateral actions.

In her imagination, Sazia envisioned a embroidery-a nakshi katha-woven from strands of individual partnerships. Each thread represented a pragmatic, bilateral relationship: Turkey's bustling bazaars, Pakistan's vibrant textile mills, Indonesia's sprawling plantations, Iran's energy wealth, and Malaysia's towering skyscrapers. Together, they formed a vision of progress grounded in reality. As she stepped back into the busy streets, the rhythm of the city fastened her. The cold might linger, but the fire of determination burned brightly within her.

Behind her, the Buriganga River seemed to murmur, its waters forming an ethereal bridge to distant lands. It was not the D8 that constructed this bridge, but necessity and human resolve-a testament to the power of connection, unburdened by grandiose, unmet promises. Sazia smiled, knowing the future lay in her hands, one thread of bilateral effort at a time.

The writer is an Editor of Geopolits.com


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