In less that two months, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is now visiting Qatar to participate in the Qatar Economic Forum Powered by Bloomberg at the invitation of His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, the Amir of the State of Qatar. According to media reports, Bangladesh Prime Minister is attending the Forum titled “3rd Qatar Economic Forum: A New Global Growth Story” which began on May 23, 2023 and shall conclude on May 25. It may be mentioned here that, while Qatar has emerged into one of the most important nations in the Middle East, the Qatar Economic Forum is the Middle East’s leading voice dedicated to global business and investment. The main objective of this forum is to find a solution by increasing mutual cooperation among the international community to deal with the multi-faceted challenges and crises going on globally and the adverse economic consequences arising from them.
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s current Qatar visit is important for multiple reasons. Under the magnanimous leadership of Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh has already emerged into an economic star in the eyes of the international community. Sheikh Hasina also has been putting special emphasis on empowerment of women, creating newer jobs, eliminating poverty and granting special focus on education.
Secondly, one of key diplomatic focuses of Sheikh Hasina’s government is to strengthen relations with the Arab nations and Muslim Ummah. Few years ago, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina initiated a grand project to establish 564 model mosques in Bangladesh. According to Bangladesh government sources, these model mosques include air conditioned facilities for offering salat, while there are facilities such as, providing training and orientation to Haji pilgrims, Imam training center, Islamic research center and library, pre-primary education and Quran learning arrangement, conference room for Islamic cultural activities and Islamic dawah, Islamic books sale center, and boarding facility for local and foreign guests.
On June 10, 2021, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the first phase of 50 model mosques, out of total 564, simultaneously across the country, aimed at preaching the true messages of Islam to eliminate religious misconceptions.
The purpose of the project is publicity of Islamic brotherhood and its values as well as disseminating the essence of Islam against extremism and militancy.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been putting emphasis on Islamic education, while she also is upholding the policy of strengthening existing relations with every country in the Middle East and the Islamic world.
While anti-Islam forces and a section of the Western societies are wrongly perceiving Islam as a religion that does not value empowerment of women, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been proving them wrong by granting free education up to higher secondary level to the girls while women are increasingly participating in country’s politics, civil-military administration, judiciary, law enforcement agencies and foreign service.
While upholding Islamic values, a devoted Muslim Sheikh Hasina is also ensuring rights of religious minorities in the country.
Bangladesh-Qatar relations shall continue to strengthen
While under the leadership of His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, the Amir of the State of Qatar the country is witnessing immense progress in various sphere, Bangladesh too is seeing a tremendous success under the leadership of Sheikh Hasina.
Bangladesh’s economy is steadily prospering, while it is expected that by 2030 the country’s GDP growth will subside most of the South Asian and Southeast Asian nations. Bangladesh’s growing economic strength is evident from its per capita income and per capita GDP growth that is soaring past even big neighbor India. In 2013, Bangladesh’s per capita income of US$783 was half of India; now it is US$125 more than India and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicts the gap will further widen in the next three years.
Statistics indices of both economic and human development, especially in those related to female empowerment, Bangladesh is ahead of India and far ahead of Pakistan.
Sheikh Hasina’s government can claim credit for success in all spheres of governance which is not top-down. The Nikkei Recovery Index recently rated Bangladesh’s management of the COVID pandemic as the best in south Asia and fifth in the world, with Pakistan and India on the 23rd and 70th spot respectively.
Bangladesh already is a prime destination for foreign investment as the country offers political stability, peaceful atmosphere and investor-friendly economic benefits, with the goal of turning Bangladesh into the land of infinite possibility. A large number of foreign investors and industrial giants from China in particular are gradually switching their investments and industrial projects to Bangladesh, which also is helping in creating thousands of job opportunities. The government has already chalked-out a plan for starting a few more special economic zones, mainly for the foreign investors. Especially following the inauguration of the Padma Bridge, which took place last year, special economic zones in the southern districts in the country will emerge as hotspots of foreign investments.
Massive infrastructural projects are seen in almost everywhere in the country, while cities are already getting elevated expressways, metro rails, under-river tunnel roads, flyovers, hospitals, educational institutes, parks (including eco parks) etcetera.
The picture of rural Bangladesh is also changing fast with a significant portion of the rural population enjoying access to socio-economic prospects, education, healthcare and empowerment of women. Hundreds and thousands of people in the rural areas are already brought under the government’s special programs that provide them a house and source of earnings. They also are enjoying access to digital communication systems, which also results in millions of rural dwellers having their own smartphones and computers. According to economic forecasts, by 2026 Bangladesh will become the leading economy in South Asia and by 2030 the country’s economic progress will cross many of the Asian nations.
According to experts, Bangladesh’s growth rests on three pillars: exports, social progress and fiscal prudence. Between 2011 and 2019, Bangladesh’s export earnings grew at 8.6 percent year-on-year, compared to the world average of 0.4 percent. The success is largely due to political stability in the country as well putting special emphasis on products, such as apparels, pharmaceuticals, ceramic items etcetera.
Bangladesh and Qatar have ongoing cooperation on various bilateral issues, including labor migration (8 million Bangladeshi workers and US$ 1.3 billion in remittances), energy cooperation (15-year G-2-G LNG agreement) and continued support for the Rohingya. It continues to purchase liquefied natural gas from Qatar and Oman under long-term contracts and imports about four million tons of liquefied gas annually.
This current Qatar visit of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina can be beneficial to Dhaka and Doha as there are multiple areas of cooperation where Qatar can become one of the major partners of Bangladesh.
