Prospects and challenges of BRI
While Bangladesh's involvement with the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) will open up new avenues of growth in essential sectors like trade, investment, tourism, connectivity and education, we must also watch out for the potential ramifications.
For one, Bangladesh must be watchful of the "debt trap" that borrowing without well-planned projects might lead to. While we welcome China's promise to invest USD 40 billion in bilateral assistance in Bangladesh for infrastructure and joint-venture projects, we must take cognisance of the importance of having a debt management and repayment plan in place. We must also be careful of how and when we spend the borrowed sum in order to make the most of it for our economy.
Similarly, Bangladesh must also tread a careful path in terms of the geo-strategic significance of its association with the BRI. Many world powers consider the BRI as China's way of expanding its influence through soft power diplomacy and are sceptical about the project; India is yet to join the BRI citing certain concerns. Bangladesh must keep in mind that both India and China are its close door neighbours and maintaining a balanced relationship with the two countries should be a priority for our policymakers; we must make it clear to both that our relationship with one is not at the expense of another. Bangladesh should also try to engage China in a dialogue stressing the importance of extending a proposed maritime corridor to Chattogram that connects China, India, Myanmar and Bangladesh.
There is no doubt that the BRI will have significant upsides for Bangladesh; thus the government must encourage an open environment, transparency and good governance to reap maximum benefits from this global development strategy.
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