Shortly before and after Brexit, the UK government sent its foreign secretary on two crucially important visits: One was to the US where they lobbied for a special trade deal to make up for the obvious shortfalls from an EU market exit; the second was to India for a similar purpose and involved a walk down by the secretary, sleeves rolled-up along a typically busy street market.
Both resulted in famous defeats for British diplomacy.
A third setback was when the EU penned a massive trade agreement with Japan. President Obama and Trump had 180 degree differences in their view of world trade. Their response to their closest ally's SOS appeal was similar. Wait in the pecking order. In other words, the EU just had more market significance.
True to their grit, the Brits haven't given up -- including a second, lukewarm response by India. Several foreign secretaries and chancellors later, they haven't given up. Their efforts, documented by an open media, is one thing others are emulating without having blown their trumpets.
Some months ago, Atiur Rahman had called for special committees to be formed to chart a way out of the sticky morass Bangladesh finds herself in, influenced mostly by international events and exacerbated by the greed of local businesses. This was the ideal platform to crystallize Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's directive to seek out new markets and diversify exports.
A bureaucracy unable to think out of the box went the traditional way.
Directives went out to the commercial wings in embassies abroad and the expensive roadshows to attract investors were duly held. The business chambers haven't yet declared what, if any, initiatives have been taken or outcome thereof. Our media, publicly evident in attending global meetings and summits that are fast becoming irrelevant, haven't supported such initiatives either.
Atiur's calls haven't been listened to. And though so much of what we do and say continues according to colonial practices, the new thought process hasn't gained purchase. Instead, the two mainstay props of our economy, RMG exports and remittances are straws we continue to cling to. According to the IMF -- which has approved a $4.5 billion loan as budget support -- green technology and post pandemic resilience support, the country's reserves are likely to be $30bn by end of 2023.
Fresh ideas have to come from fresh minds un blinkered by other persuasions. They aren't likely to be found from the motley group that provide current business or economic leadership. At every credential presentation, President Abdul Hamid has pointed out the promising areas from which countries can import. There too, follow-up is missing. Then again, his pleas to not make education a commodity hasn't been heeded either.
The British Academy has announced 100,000 British Pound awards for research by social scientists on the learnings of Covid-19 and preparations for another wave. That's as big as it gets that the UK government isn't relying on its ministers and bureaucrats alone. Nor are they appointing parliamentary committees with such responsibility. Bangladesh is pinning a lot on young entrepreneurs in the digital community. It needs to have similar faith in the young social scientists and economists.
Local innovation occasionally makes headlines but never gets the support required. Yet, the innovators have made their case for simple, cost-effective solutions to many of our daily problems. Bangladeshi higher educational institutions haven't won many friends for lack of cutting research on social and economic maladies, less so of solutions thereof.
The prime minister herself has expressed a certain degree of frustration. Dhaka University has revealed a Tk7,000 crore development program designed to tear down existing structures to build for the future. It has said little about prospective and time-befitting research not yet for education but society and the country at-large.
Funding for the committees and their recommendations shouldn't be too hard to find. Export diversification prospects should be easier. There has to be the will, political and business alike, to put their money where their mouths are. DBL Group has invested heavily in a plant in Africa and now is stuck because of political and law and order issues.
Others, allowed by the government to invest abroad haven't reported on progress. And yet there are possibilities in cheaper clothing, and other SME products that should be welcome substitutes in many countries that seek to ease import bills.
It's time to stop chasing hares.
Mahmudur Rahman is a writer, columnist, broadcaster, and communications specialist.
