Bay of Bengal Rim Poised to Unlock New Economic Opportunities

Bangla Press Desk:  South Asian region surrounding the Bay of Bengal has huge untapped potential, beyond traditional connectivity, commerce and competition, which can readily be translated into shared economic opportunity.

Speakers at a summit meet in Dhaka Saturday mentioned energetic and bright youths, creative industries and networks which can readily be put to use to that end.

The speakers, at the Bay of Bengal Conversation that began at a city hotel, viewed that the growth and investment with wider commonwealth could also create new opportunities beyond political constraints of the Bay of Bengal region.

Noted Economist Rehman Sobhan, who was the main speaker in a session titled 'New International Economic Disorder', said power balances that changed throughout the history has moved towards Asia with increasing competitiveness of Asian economies in the traded good sector.

 He said alternative sources now available have created an opportunity for a more balanced and less hegemonic world order.

"The relocation of capital surpluses to Asia has meant that you no longer need to look to the West for resource transfers in the form of aid or foreign direct investment," Rehman Sobhan, also the chairman of the Centre for Policy Dialogue, also opined.

Executive Director, Power and Participation Research Centre, Hossain Zillur Rahman, Nilanthi Samaranayake, adjunct fellow of East West Centre, USA, Executive Director of Commonwealth Businesswomen's Network of the UK Arif Zaman, Clay Goodloe Wescott, Consultant, the World Bank, and Chairman of MAX Group of Bangladesh Gulam Mohammed Alomgir were the key speakers in the session on 'Corridor of Influence' which was Moderated by N-TV Germany David.

They highlighted the issues of ports, investments, talents, practical use of commonwealth in the region and laid importance on reframing mental maps with maritime domain to tap the potential in the region.

The region is connected institutionally, businesses and markets beyond military, politics, connectivity by road, trade.

Dr Hossain Zillur Rahman laid importance on working on common resources, facilitating professional interaction to develop a new framework of professionals, and said this has been necessary to raise the spirit of the youths who are now facing a world with moral collapse.

"Bangladesh has an energetic and very educated youth population. Their entry into the job market needs reducing the gap in soft skill," he added.

Rehman Sobhan pointed out technology transfer and said much stronger economic linkages have been established within the region through trade. He pointed to China's leading role in the world in terms of both  patents and the publication of research papers.

"The main trading partners are no longer located in the West," he said, adding that the largest flows of official capital transfers are now coming from Asia, mainly China, with aid, loans and various other forms of credit to the rest of the world.

But he said though an opportunity has been created for a more balanced, bipolar economic world order, it is yet to happen, pointing to existence of the interference in the trading process and a return to the colonial model of trade.

However, Rehman Sobhan said Bangladesh's historical position as a minor player has given scope to play the role for a stable world order by strengthening the value chains across the world.

"Bangladesh's central importance lies in its strategic economic location. It is not simply its position in the Bay of Bengal that matters. It is really our land area," the noted economist told the meet.

Ms Nilanthi Samaranayake focused on the strength of BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative on Economic Cooperation) and it has been reframing the mental map with maritime domain from India not being the main player, as one of many stakeholders.
As ports are critical for the Bay of Bengal economies, its well functionality with proper investment is needed to recognize maritime in the national  economy.

Arif Zaman termed the growth of South Asia as the fastest and said it can be the engine for the commonwealth due to having 'incredibly' young population as the region is centre of creative industries,

"Don't think of it as a colonial relic, think of it as a learning laboratory where you can share experience, you can build best practices," he said, adding that Commonwealth as a business network in Bay of Bengal deals with South Asia, Africa, Europe, Caribbean, Pacific--all around the world.

Clay Goodloe Wescott stressed the need for engaging other institutions other than governments as banks, rating, agencies, payment systems, platform that play major roles in the regional connectivity

He said inherited failure of the governance block the country's credit, its eyes and voices to demand for consequences in carbon emission that is taking place in one place and faced somewhere else.

Praising Bangladesh's tremendous success in early warning system, shelters, volunteers, he said when other countries are now studying how to deal with disasters facing due to climate changes, Bangladesh has achieved it spending small budgets.

"Being connected is not the same as being protected," he said