The centre moves east

The centre moves east:

Context: The article discusses the advancement of Bangladesh economically and its implications for the sub-continent.

Facts:

• Sheikh Hasina has been elected consecutively for the third time as the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, providing the much needed continuity in Bangladesh’s political and economic realm.
• The stability and continuity provided by Hasina has been critical in the dramatic improvement witnessed in Bangladesh’s economic prospectsduring the decade.
• Under her leadership, Bangladesh has emerged as one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, doubling its per capita income over the last decade and is all set to leave the category of “least developed countries”.
• Hasinaaims to accelerate the annual economic growth rate of Bangladesh from current 7% to nearly 10% by 2021.

Implications of Bangladesh’s rise and prospects:

• Model to emulate: Bangladesh presents an impressive economic model,which lays stress not on foreign aid but on trade and investment, which could be emulated by other countries over-reliant on foreign aid like Pakistan.
• Religious moderation:Bangladesh model boasts of successful moderation of religious idealism instead of extremism.
• Tilt of balance within South Asia: Bangladesh’s rise shifts the economic centre of gravity of South Asia towards the east.It would liftthe entire eastern Subcontinent, including India’s Northeast as well as Bhutan and Nepal.
• Integration of eastern Subcontinent and Southeast Asia:Maritime territorial issues of Bangladesh with India and Burma have been peacefully resolved which opens room for maritime economic and security cooperation within the Bay of Bengal and also deepen the integration between eastern Subcontinent and Southeast Asia.
• Successful implementation of BCIM (Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar) Corridor: Economic growth in Bangladesh will act as an enabler for successful conduct of the BCIM corridor which integrates China’s Yunnan province with Myanmar, Bangladesh and eastern India.
• Since long the South Asian geography has been viewed through the prism of India-Pakistan relations and the narrative has been largely negative.But the rise of Bangladesh and the expanding regional cooperation centredaround it allows us to imagine a positive future for the Eastern subcontinent and its integration with the dynamic East Asian region.