Interview with His Excellency Md Daud Ali, Ambassador of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh with Nine O’Clock
In this interview, Nine O’Clock had the privilege of talking to H.E. Md Daud Ali, Ambassador of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh to Romania, about Bangladesh’s economy, bilateral relations with Romania, culture and education in the country. Another important topic discussed was Bangladesh’s import and export as well as strategies to attract foreign investment.
Nine O’Clock: What has been the average economic growth rate of Bangladesh over the last decade and how has it fared during the Covid-19 pandemic?
H.E.: At first, I pay my deepest respect to the greatest Bengali of all the times, the architect of independent Bangladesh and Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman for his charismatic leader to gift a new country to the oppressed Bengali people in 1971. I must thank to his appropriate daughter, the present Hon’ble Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Her Excellency Sheikh Hasina who come forward to lead the country with the benchmarks of success in all kind of sectors, especially in economic sector. If you consider the last more than one decade, one and a half decades, our economy grew from 6% to 8%. On average, the growth is varied from 6.5 to 7%. It’s not easy to maintain this huge population and to continue this economic growth. Even during the pandemic year, when the economy was shrinking, most of the developed countries had negative growth, but Bangladesh had 5.5% growth. Last year it was 7.2%, but this year, because of the pandemic and the ongoing War in Ukraine, the world economy saw a downturn, but overall, we are doing well. For the last 10-15 years, our dependency is moving away from the government projects. Nowadays, private sector is a huge market. Most of the private sectors are doing very well.
Nine O’Clock: What are some of the major products that Bangladesh exports and how does the process of exporting products made in Bangladesh through European chain stores affect the country’s export volume?
H.E.: In the garment sector, we are the number two exporter in the world market, after China. We export more garments than India and Vietnam. In the European market, last year it has increased 35% than the previous year.
In Germany alone, we export a few billion in the store. Of course, in Romania we are exporting our garments as well. Furthermore, according to our calculations, comparing 2022 with 2021, exports from Bangladesh to Romania increased by 79%. Almost double than the previous amount.
People go to some chain stores like, H&M, Zara, Marks & Spencer, Primark to buy clothes, but never check where it’s made. It is made in Bangladesh. If you check, you will see that almost 30-40% of the products are made in Bangladesh. The products are made in Bangladesh, brought to Germany or the Netherlands and then transported throughout Europe. Because of this process, it adds volume to exports from Germany or the Netherlands, not Bangladesh. Other than these garments, you will see electronic products. If you check in Selgros or EMAG, you will find a TV brand, WALTON, made in Bangladesh. It’s coming from Bangladesh and selling here.
From Bangladesh, there are also ceramic products, leather and shoes that say Made in Italy. But they don’t know that the Italian company has a factory in Bangladesh. They collect raw materials from Bangladesh, prepare shoes in Bangladesh, finish them in Italy and write Made in Italy, but originally they are made in Bangladesh.
Besides garments, electronic products, ceramic items, leather and shoes, we also export Jute, frozen fish, shrimp and vegetables. We are the fourth largest producer in the world market of vegetables. But our main crop is rice. We produce so much rice that we don’t need to import for almost 165 million people. We import only a few fine rice, but also export some other kind of rice. So, the trade is balanced.
Nine O’Clock: What products is Bangladesh interested in importing from Romania and why?
H.E.: We want to import wheat from Romania. I’ve already talked with a few companies if we can find a good seller in Romania and a good buyer in Bangladesh, because we import millions of tons.
Another thing we also want to import, that is vegetable oil. In Bangladesh, normally we use Soybean and Palm oil. Palm oil is coming from Malaysia and in a small quantity come from Indonesia. Soybean is basically imported from Brazil, Argentina and some other countries. Even from South Africa. Luckily, you have a very good quantity of sunflower. It’s a very demandable item in Bangladesh. Besides wheat and sunflower, we also want to import fruits, like grapes, apples and oranges, because we don’t have a good land for production of this kind of fruits.
Nine O’Clock: How do you see diplomatic relations between Bangladesh and Romania, and also between Bangladesh and the European Union evolving in recent years?
H.E.: Before independence, during the liberation war back in 1971, we received tremendous political support from the Eastern European countries, the then USSR and the Eastern European countries. Even after our independence, we also received a lot of support, both political and economic. We will never forget these relations. As a result, during that time, we opened a diplomatic mission in Romania. Even Romania had a mission in Bangladesh. Unfortunately, due to the financial crisis, we closed down our diplomatic mission in 1995 in Romania. We had a mission in Belgrade, but only for a short time, we also had a mission in Bulgaria. But this present government has focused on economy under the visionary leadership of Hon’ble Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. As such, the government is expanding our diplomatic missions. During the last 14 years, we opened more than 30 diplomatic missions all over the world, including Romania. We recently opened our diplomatic mission in Romania, Uzbekistan, Poland, Austria and Portugal. So, foreign network is expanding.
Romania is a potential workers market for Bangladesh. Last 03 years, almost 20,000 Bangladeshi workers come here to work. In 2022 and 2023, two temporary consulates of Romania were sent to Bangladesh for issuing visas in favour of the Bangladeshi citizens. We expect that a permanent diplomatic mission of Romania will be reopened in Bangladesh, as we have multi-dimensional bilateral co-operation.
Other than this relationship, in the UN system, we always support each other. Politically we are, in fact, well connected. In 2021, our Foreign Minister visited Romania on a bilateral visit. Politically we are improving, expanding our relations. Of course, we have also signed some MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) for our cooperation. So, we would say that it’s strengthening up to a new level. Politically we are well connected.
Nine O’Clock: What is your country’s foreign policy?
H.E.: The Father of the Nation always said,” Friendship to all, malice to none” and our government is highly committed to follow this policy. 25th article of our constitution is the pillar of foreign policy. Our diplomacy is enough balanced to maintain a good relationship with the super powers, such as, USA, Russia, China and India. We have extended our hand of friendship to European Union. We receive a lot of support and advice from EU.
Nine O’Clock: What cultural and educational initiatives are taking place between Bangladesh and Romania? Are there opportunities for collaboration in these areas?
H.E.: I am planning on bringing some cultural teams to Romania to focus on Bangladeshi culture. I am talking with the Minister of Culture to sign a collaboration MOU to enhance the cultural relations. In terms of education, you will be very happy to know that during Soviet time or during the 80s, after our independence, a good number of Bangladeshi students came in Romania for higher studies. After our arrival, I visited not only nearby The University of Bucharest, Politehnica University of Bucharest, but also in Timișoara, in Cluj and in Iași. I talked with all the university rectors and signed an MOU with the Politehnica University of Bucharest and the Bangladeshi Embassy during the visit of our foreign minister. Politehnica University provides 04 (four) full free scholarship for the Bangladeshi students and per year the number of the scholarship will be increased. So, in terms of education, we have a good collaboration. We are working closely with the universities and the Ministry. Even the Foreign Ministry is also providing a scholarship for Bangladeshi students.
Nine O’Clock: What are some reasons why many countries and companies are investing in Banglades’s economic zones?
H.E.: In Bangladesh, as I mentioned, the Government has a foreign-friendly investment policy. This present government is making 100 economic zones all over Bangladesh. Almost 64 are ongoing, the rest of it is coming on the market. Many countries like USA, India, Japan, Korea, China, those who have close business relations with Bangladesh, already took a big chunk of land and making their own economic zones. Many European companies from German, Sweden, Finland are directly working in Bangladesh. Why are they going to Bangladesh? If a company wants to invest in those economic zones, the first 10 years is tax free and another 3 years have subsidized tax. Not only that, but when you are setting up an industry in those economic zones, the setting materials are duty free. So, there are big opportunities to set up industries in those areas. Another plus point is that Bangladesh has an abundant workforce with cheaper price. There are no limitations in terms of selling products in the local or global market, choosing to have a 100% foreign-owned company or partnering with a local business. Additionally, businesses have the full right to sell their company or transfer ownership to another entity. There are no restrictions on sending profits back to the business’s home country or anywhere else in the world.
Nine O’Clock: What makes Bangladesh one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change and what measures has the government taken to mitigate its effects, especially in regard to the frequent storms, cyclones and floods that the country experiences?
H.E.: First, we must think who is responsible for climate change and those are the developed countries because they are the main contributor of carbon emission. Bangladesh is less carbon emitted country but is suffered in various ways. Which countries are the most vulnerable? Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable countries, because its land height is lower compared to the sea level. In some places, it’s less than one meter higher from sea level. It’s a prediction that if the sea level rises two or three meters, maybe one third of Bangladesh will go under water. Now probably 2,000 people are living in one square kilometer. If we lose one third of our land, then 6,000 people may start living in one square kilometer. So, we are one of the vulnerable countries. Also, our country is facing desertification, long time drought, cyclones, sudden flood, landslide in a dangerous rate. That’s why we are always vocal in climate change issues. We have tried to bring all the leaders into a platform, but the world leaders are still not providing enough support to overcome these climate issues. However, we and the Government are trying our best to mitigate these kinds of climate change issues with our own money.
Interview by Andreea Dragan, Deputy–Editor–in-Chief
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