Seminar on Bangladesh’s graduation from LDC held in Tehran

A seminar on Bangladesh’s graduation from LDC (Least Developed Country) was held at the Embassy of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh in Tehran on Wednesday, AVA Diplomatic reports.

The gathering was held to mark the country’s success to, for the second time in the history of its independence from Pakistan in 1971, become eligible for graduation from LDC and take its status to a new height.

The first time was in 2015 when Bangladesh upgraded itself to the World Bank’s ‘lower middle income’ category by increasing its Gross National Income (GNI).

The LDC category was introduced by the United Nations in 1971 when there was 25 LDCs. In 2018, the number has increased to 47.

Bangladesh is the only country that has met all three criteria for graduation from LDC including GNI per capita, human assets index and economic vulnerability index.

The conference was attended by Counselor and Chargé d’Affaires of Bangladesh Embassy in Tehran Mohamed Humayun Kabir, Deputy Head of the International Affairs Department of Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture Mohammadreza Bakhtiari, Director of Human Resources Affairs of the foreign offices of Imam Khomeini Relief Foundation Mohsen Shahrabi and Commercial Counselor at Bangladesh Embassy in Tehran Mohamed Sobur Hossain.

Arash Beh Azin and Mahnaz Sayyahi also attended as representatives of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and United Nations Industrial Development Organization, respectively.

Bangladesh economy

Giving a presentation on Bangladesh and its economy at the seminar, Kabir said with an area of 147,570 square kilometers, his country has a population of 160 million people.

He put the country’s life expectancy at 70.9, adding the state and second languages of Bangladesh are Bangla and English respectively.

Kabir noted that during 1971-72, Bangladesh’s per capita income was $129.71 but the figure reached $1,610 during the period between 2016 and 2017.

In 1976, he said, Bangladesh GDP growth was 4.62 percent but this figure rose to 7.28 percent between 2016 and 2017.

Kabir added the value of Bangladesh exports in 1976 was only $400 million, noting that during 2016-17, it stood at $34.85 billion.

In 1977, foreign direct investment in Bangladesh stood at $7 million, he said. This figure, Kabir added, reached $2.33 billion in 2016.

In 1972, the country’s forex reserves was $270 million but the figure rose to $32.694 billion in 2018.

Kabir recalled that in 2017, Bangladesh’s electricity generation capacity was 15,755 megawatts.

According to his presentation, in 2016, the proportion of Bangladesh’s population below the international poverty line declined to 13.8 percent, from 44.19 percent in 1991.

He said as an emerging economy, Bangladesh is currently the 32nd largest economy in the world. By 2050, the country will be the world’s 23rd largest economy, Kabir added.

Kabir further noted, “Bangladesh was included in the LDCs in 1975. Five countries, namely: Botswana (1994), Cape Verde (2007), Maldives (2011), Samoa (2014) and Equatorial Guinea (2017), have so far graduated from LDCs, whereas, two states of Angola (2020) and Vanuatu (2021) await graduation.”

He said that in March 2018, Bangladesh received UN recognition of meeting the LDC graduation criteria.

Addressing the same seminar, Sobur Hossain put Bangladesh’s average GDP growth rate at 6.71 percent during 2011-18.

He said four decades have elapsed since Bangladesh’s independence from Pakistan, and its economy has grown roughly six percent since 1996 and 6.5 percent since 2004.

Sobur Hossain added that despite all the hindrances, Bangladesh achieved a GDP growth rate of 7.01 percent in the fiscal year between 2015 and 2016, noting the country’s GDP growth rate stood at 7.28 percent in the timespan between 2016 and 2017.

Quoting a report published in July 2016, he said that 10 emerging markets of the future that are set to become new drivers of economic growth over the next 10 years are Bangladesh, Pakistan, Myanmar, Vietnam, Philippines and Indonesia from Asia and Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya and Nigeria from Africa.

The report, Sobur Hossain said, estimates that these countries will cumulatively add $4.3 trillion to global GDP by 2025.

According to his presentation at the seminar, Bangladesh’s major export items are readymade garments, jute and jute goods, leather and products made from it, agro crops, home textiles as well as live and frozen fish.

He said the country exports products to 196 states.

Trade with Iran

Sobur Hossain listed some of his country’s export items to Iran as oil seeds, confectionaries, medicament mixtures, tableware and kitchenware, cotton waste, jute and jute goods, knitwear, woven garments as well as sacks and bags. Iran, he noted, exports vegetables, foodstuffs, minerals, base materials, plastic products, textile, chemicals and machinery and mechanical appliances to Bangladesh.