Turning dream of BIG-B into reality

JAPANESE Premier Shinzo Abe's long awaited but short return visit to Dhaka following Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's May visit to Tokyo should be viewed on a broader geopolitical and strategic canvas  than it appears on the face of it. For the present, he has reiterated the promise that Japan would extend financial assistance of around US$6 billion to Bangladesh over the next five years to implement projects under the Bay of Bengal Industrial Growth Belt (BIG-B), an initiative the Japanese premier himself proposed during Sheikh Hasina's visit to his country.  In exchange, Sheikh Hasina, too, has assured Abe of Bangladesh's support for Japan's candidature for non-permanent membership in the UN Security Council (UNSC) for 2016-17 term.  Also, Bangladesh, which earlier announced that it would contest the UNSC seat from the Asia-Pacific Group, has opted out of the race in support of Japan as a gesture of friendship.  At a time when its still greater ambition of getting the permanent membership of UNSC is being effectively blocked by China, Japan needs this non-permanent seat to represent the Asia-Pacific region in the UN forum in question.  Evidently, against this backdrop, Japan greatly values incumbent Bangladesh government's support in this respect.  And this also fits well into the wider framework of extending Japan's economic and diplomatic stakes from Pacific Rim to Indian Ocean Rim countries, the ground for which Abe has already broken during Indian Prime minister Narendra Modi's recent east-looking visit to Japan.

It is worthwhile to note that the concept of BIG-B envisions a wider perspective of Japan's involvement in the economic growth of the region encompassing a vast geographical area extending from Myanmar, Bangladesh, India and farther west into the Indian Ocean Rim nations.  Needless to say, this sudden surge in Japan's renewed interest in the economic development of the South Asian countries is driven more by geopolitical rather than purely economic considerations. Especially, after the present Premier Shinzo Abe took office in December 2012, Japan has been pursuing a more proactive role than before to diplomatically engage nations in Asia. Clearly, Japan's diplomatic offensive aims to offset China's growing political, economic and military ambitions in the region. China's territorial claims over what Japan calls Senkaku Islands ( or called Diaoyu Islands by China) in the East China Sea has been instrumental in the rise of nationalistic fervour in the otherwise pacifist and non-aggressive Japanese  foreign policy.  Small wonder over the last 21 months since Abe assumed office, he himself as well as his top diplomats has been on a hectic tour of the capitals of different countries across the entire Asia-Pacific region. Japan's offer for cooperation with many of those countries like Vietnam, Philippines and Myanmar was not limited only to the economic sphere. They also expressed Japan's keenness to help build those countries' defence capabilities, especially in the area of naval power.  This, again, relates to China's growing naval presence in South China Sea and perceived ambition in the greater Pacific and Indian Ocean regions.

Bangladesh has little stake in the big power rivalry in the region.  It should rather concentrate on making the most of its strategic geographical location in the region linking Southeast Asia with the rest of South Asia to invite as much Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) as possible to build its communication infrastructure including ports, develop energy base and build industry. Our nearly inexhaustible supply of cheaper labour is definitely an attraction that no overseas investor including Japan can ignore. Given that Japan has been our dependable development partner since the day one of our independence. Even to till date, Japan stands as one of the largest foreign aid sources for Bangladesh. So, Bangladesh can count on this overture for more comprehensive economic cooperation with Japan made by Premier Abe during his visit.   But it is also time, we graduated ourselves from an aid recipient to the level of a worthwhile trading partner of Japan.

The Premier Abe's large entourage comprised of big business leaders from Japan. This provides a huge opportunity for us, since Japanese investors are shifting their investment destination from China to Indian Ocean rim countries in a big way. India under Modi is poised to grab the largest chunk of that investment. Bangladesh can ill-afford to miss this grand opportunity opened before it in the shape of Abe-proposed BIG-B. But to make that happen, the government must show that it is really serious and willing to remove the main roadblocks to FDI to reach us. The barriers include bureaucratic bottleneck, pervasive political as well as administrative corruption and poor infrastructures in the communication and power sectors. The BIG-B envisages turning Bangladesh into a nodal point of regional growth. The said three pillars of that initiative revolves around development of infrastructures including construction of a deep sea port at Sonadia, developing a primary energy supply terminal at Matarbari and developing the arterial Dhaka-Chittagong-Cox's Bazar highway for smoother transportation of goods and services. We believe the government will remove all the hurdles at the policy level to turn the dream of BIG-B into reality.

The writer is Editor, Science & Life, The Daily Star.
E-mail: sfalim.ds@gmail.com