Bangladesh – Play the Strategy Game to become a Regional Power in South Asia.

Pushing or Pulling towards the center of the board. Getting some notice or it’s a threat from China as Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Li Jiming said on Monday that China-Bangladesh bilateral ties would be substantially damaged if Dhaka engaged with Quad, according to the media report. The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad), an informal security grouping of the US, Japan, Australia and India, are now seeking to seduce Bangladesh to be part of their Indo-Pacific strategy tie.

As an important partner of China, Bangladesh signed up to the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and is a member of the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. One of the crucial aims of both US' and India's Indo-Pacific visions is to counter the BRI with a bid to contain China's development. Roping in Bangladesh can help them achieve this goal.

Another Quad member, Japan, is engaged in many areas of cooperation with Bangladesh as well. For one, Bangladesh's market is appealing to Japan. Despite its small size, Bangladesh has a population of more than 160 million. For another, out of geopolitical considerations, Tokyo hopes to counter the BRI. Japan has proposed the Partnership for Quality Infrastructure and attempted to sign infrastructure deals with Bangladesh. Tokyo, together with New Delhi and Washington, are really the ones behind the scenes that instigated Dhaka to call off the Sonadia deep-sea port project that was constructed by China and turn to cooperate with Japan on another similar program, reported by the media in 2016.

As a response, Bangladesh Foreign Minister AK Abdul Moment told local English daily Dhaka Post that, "None of us were invited to the Quad, nor did we show interest." If what Chinese Ambassador said is the fact, this will be good. But given that some media outlets, including local ones, had covered Li's remarks, the news that Bangladesh had been invited to join the Quad was possibly not be groundless. Bangladesh either had talked with Quad members over this issue or aim to launch a trial balloon to see China's reaction.

 

Bangladesh holds a good balance between major powers. It actively cooperates with China on economics. At the same time, Dhaka hopes such cooperation will thus bring more countries to invest in Bangladesh. But it also hopes a competition over it remains at the economic level instead of at the political level. Bangladesh raises its value to the regional powers in the Geopolitical prospective. The strategy should secure the higher economic value from the international partners as well as stable the position from Underdog to Regional Power.

Import and Export will be prohibited without Trade Body Membership.

There have been many cases of import/export regulation violations where the concerned businessmen could not be traced. To avoid such discrepancies, exporters and importers would have to be members of related trade bodies to carry on with their business.

Faruk Khan, commerce minister has said that businessmen will not be allowed to export or import unless they were members of related trade bodies. He said that the draft of Trade Organisation Act, which will be finalized by the start of next year, will include this provision.

The minister was speaking to reporters following a visit by the outgoing European Union ambassador Stefan Frowein on Wednesday. He said that work was ongoing to implement and finalise the draft of the 'Trade Organisation Act.'

The minister said that a copy of the draft has been provided to the apex trade body, Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) and opinions of all related parties will be considered before the Act was finalized.

DITF has extended for seven more deys.

The largest trade exposition of the country, has been extended for seven more days. Commerce ministry spokesperson Faizul Haq said the ministry decided the extension Dhaka International Trade Fair on requests by participants in the fair, jointly organized by the ministry of Commerce and Export Promotion Bureau.Savannah Straw Market Basket

Bangladesh Investment and Trade Laws and Regulations Handbook (World Law Business Library) 

Now the fair, which was scheduled to close on January 31, will continue up to February 7. Around 500 organizations from 10 countries are taking part in the month-long annual trade extravaganza.