The President of China Xi Jinping recently visited Bangladesh. Before the aura of his epoch-making visit could subside, the President of the World Bank, Jim Yong Kim, also made his first visit to Bangladesh in the third week of October 2016.
The two visits are being seen as feathers in Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s cap but the distinguished visitors and the leaders of the host country had certain goals in their minds. After initial scrutiny, many now believe that both the visits were highly productive.
As far as Mr. Xi’s visit was concerned, Bangladesh wanted to make a substantial headway, in at least two major areas – Chinese assistance for its development projects and bilateral relations with China. Favorable advances were made on both the issues.
Bangladesh and China signed as many as 27 agreements and memorandums of understanding (MoUs) during Mr. Xi’s visit. The Chinese assistance involved in those is estimated to be around $24 billion or more. The prospect of getting more funding for development projects does not end there. Funds from Beijing-based Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) might find their way into Bangladesh if China deems it necessary.
Bangladesh’s decision to rely more on Chinese assistance for development is not without any reason. The growth rate of the former has been quite impressive in recent years. So has been its performance in the case of poverty reduction. But what ails its development process most is its poor infrastructure. Multilateral lenders have been extending funds, but not up to the desired level and not for projects that the country needs most.
Bangladesh aspires to acquire the status of a middle-income country (MIC) by 2021 and to reach that milestone its economy has to grow at a higher pace, above 7% without any pause. Alongside making substantial improvements in its infrastructural condition, the country has to ensure uninterrupted supply of power and energy. Most part of the assistance that China has committed during Mr. Xi’s visit is meant for projects for power generation and infrastructure building.
China has been making available a substantial volume of resources to many countries in Africa, Southeast and South Asia for infrastructure and skill development in recent years. It could be that certain political as well strategic objectives have prompted China to be so generous in extending development assistance to so many countries. In 2014-15 China signed deals worth $46 billion with Pakistan, $20 billion with India and $1.4 billion with Sri Lanka.
Bangladesh wanted development assistance in large quantities from China and it has been successful in securing it. China, in exchange, surely had some issues in its mind. It wanted Bangladesh to join a move called ‘strategic partnership’ for cooperation. ‘The One Belt, One Road Project’, masterminded by Chinese President Xi, is part of that move. Bangladesh has agreed to join the initiative.
The developments surrounding Mr. Xi’s visit to Bangladesh had, naturally, evoked a few questions about their possible impact on Dhaka’s cozy relations with New Delhi. Some have seen Dhaka’s decision to become a strategic partner of China as a bid to strike a balance in its relations with two regional superpowers. However, events following the Chinese President’s visit do indicate that the BJP government’s stance towards Sheikh Hasina’s government has remained unchanged. The bilateral meeting held between Sheikh Hasina and Narendra Modi during the BRICS-BIMSTEC Outreach Summit in Goa, India had indicated that clearly.
The visit of Mr. Xi produced a win-win situation for both Bangladesh and China. Both of them are poised to reap long-term benefits out of it only if they stick to agreed path of taking the bilateral relations to a new height.
Mr. Xi’s visit was followed by the visit by another important dignitary – the incumbent President of the World Bank (WB), Jim Yong Kim. His visit was of high significance against the backdrop of perceived strained relationship between the Bank and the incumbent government over Padma Bridge project financing. Some people viewed Mr. Kim’s visit as a mission of mending the differences that had crept up in recent years.
Whether the differences were bridged or not is difficult to say, but the visit had ended on a positive note. During his visit, Mr. Kim had highlighted, at least, a couple of achievements of Bangladesh. He had all praise for Bangladesh for successfully cutting down poverty and making substantial progress in social sectors. The WB president personally had taken part in the End Poverty Day celebration in Dhaka as part of the Bank’s recognition of Bangladesh’s success in bringing down poverty level.
Mr. Kim did not leave Bangladesh just by dishing out only sweet words, doing nothing in material terms. In fact, Bangladesh has good reasons for being elated. The World Bank pledged to make available assistance worth $3 billion for two major projects – $2 billion for mitigation of climate-related adverse impacts and $1 billion for bankrolling programs for preventing malnutrition among children that lead to stunting. What has surely soothed the ears of the country’s policymakers is Mr. Kim’s promise to increase the Bank’s assistance to Bangladesh by another 50% during the next financial year.
The impression given by the WB president about Bangladesh would also create a positive impact in the minds of other lending institutions and investors, both local and foreign.
Mr. Kim’s visit would surely help remove misgivings, if there is any, in relations between the government of Bangladesh and the Bank and deepen collaboration between the two in the future.
Bangladesh is now passing through a good time. Things do look very positive as of now. However, there should be no room for complacency on the part of the policymakers. They have much to do to ensure the continuation of goodwill that the neighbors, development partners, and relevant others are demonstrating. It has to strengthen national institutions, enhance the quality of governance, reduce the level of corruption, improve the business climate, invest in human resource development and upgrade the quality of public services, among others.
Mr. Kim was candid in expressing his feelings about the existence of such a large population in a small country. It was, in fact, a surprise for him that Bangladesh being such a densely populated country is marching forward overcoming all odds. If the people of Bangladesh could achieve so much against all odds, manmade or otherwise, they would surely achieve wonders in an improved environment.
The writer is a senior journalist. He can be reached at zahidmar10@gmail.com
