We welcome the proposal made by China for further co-operation on growing the blue economy.
China’s involvement can add crucial expertise to Bangladesh’s call to form a regional bloc of states to develop maritime resources and build on the MoU recently signed with India.
Following the settlement of maritime boundary disputes, Bangladesh has sovereign authority over a 118,000 sq-km area in the Bay of Bengal.
The scale of the large area yet to be properly explored is illustrated by the fact that Bangladesh is unable to exploit untapped fishing resources across the 200 nautical miles over which it has fishing rights, because our harvesting fleet can typically travel only a fifth of this distance from shore.
It would greatly aid plans to develop the blue economy, if the government were to support an industrial policy to help Bangladeshi shipbuilders scale up their capacity.
Local shipbuilders are becoming increasingly successful in winning export orders and investing in developing the capability of their production facilities.
The government should assist enterprising shipbuilding companies by encouraging workforce skills training initiatives and finding larger anchorage areas on which bigger shipyards can be built.
It also needs to enforce maintenance and safety regulations for the nation’s thousands of aging and unsafe river vessels plying inland routes. By increasing pressure on boat operators to modernise and update their vessels, it can both improve safety and provide a platform for shipbuilding companies to grow and create new jobs.
If we are to take advantage of the potential of the blue economy, we need bigger and better ships of all sizes. There is a compelling economic logic for Bangladesh to complement its large ship-breaking and recycling industry with a world class shipbuilding sector. Helping the nation’s shipbuilding sector scale up in size is a sensible way forward.
