What WEF chief says about Pakistan, India

LAHORE: Sheikh Hasina, the prime minister of Bangladesh and daughter of the nation’s late founder Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, is optimistic that her country would emerge as a developing state by 2021 and a developed nation by the year 2041.

Achieving an average growth rate of about six percent for the last many years, Bangladesh is now the fourth largest in rice producing, second largest jute producer, fourth largest in mango production, fifth largest in vegetables production and fourth largest in inland fisheries in the world, hence Sheikh Hasina’s optimism should not stun many!

Her recent article, carried by the globally-acclaimed “World Economic Forum” (WEF) on its website, states: “Many see Bangladesh as a ‘market’ of over 30 million middle and affluent-class people and a ‘development miracle’. To me, our strengths are the societal values and peoples’ trust in Bangladesh, equally peoples’ aspiration to progress and their resilience as well as their confidence in our leadership”. The 48-year-old “World Economic Forum” is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and is known to be fairly choosy in carrying opinions on its official website.

Sheikh Hasina has further held: “Bangladesh is quickly moving to a high-value, knowledge-intensive society, beyond apparel manufacturing. Last year, we exported 12 industrial robots to Korea. Four ships made in Bangladesh have come to India. Recently, Reliance purchased a large quantity of refrigerators made in Bangladesh. Bangladesh also has 600,000 IT freelancers – the largest freelancing community”. She asserts: “This all speaks to a quiet transformation where people have taken risks and faced challenges by becoming more innovative and adopting technology. It is time that global investors, particularly Indian entrepreneurs, invest in Bangladesh in areas like education, light engineering, electronics, the auto industry and artificial intelligence – beyond the conventional menu”.

Sheikh Hasina has gone on to write: “Bangladesh is urbanising fast. By 2030, 48 percent of our population will live in towns and cities. Most will be young, energetic and digitally connected. They will be agile, receptive to new ideas and look for new ways of creating wealth. In fact, this is already happening with over 110 million active internet subscribers in Bangladesh. By 2025, mobile internet penetration will reach 41 percent population. Rapid urbanisation, fed by increasing consumption of electricity and more than 30 million middle class citizens, is indeed a huge market”.

Premier Hasina maintains: “Some are concerned about the risks of investing in Bangladesh. Yes, we have challenges like many other countries. But in Bangladesh we know how to transform challenges into opportunities. This year, our economy posted record high growth of 8.1 percent. We are close to achieving double-digit growth. Since 2009, Bangladesh’s economy has grown by 188 percent in size. Our per capita income has surpassed $1,909”.

The Bangladeshi premier has revealed that her country was has the fifth-largest internet user population in Asia-Pacific, and is fast becoming a cashless society. Last year, according to her, e-commerce transactions in Bangladesh had reached $260 million. She has written: “In between Eastern and North-East India, China on the west and South-East Asia, Bangladesh merits the attention of global and Indian business as a seamless economic space. We can serve as the economic hub for the sub-region. Beyond our own 162 million people, Bangladesh can be the connecting landmass to a combined market of nearly 3 billion people. Last year, HSBC predicted that Bangladesh would be the 26th largest economy in the world, by 2030”.

Excerpts from “World Economic Forum” President Borge Brende’s October 3, 2019 article and his views about Indian economy: “With its GDP growth projected to again increase by 7.5 percent in the next few years, India continues to be one of the world’s fastest growing major economies. India’s has seen a dramatic rise, deserving of the global attention that it has commanded. The stage is set for India to realise its vision of becoming a $10-trillion economy in the next decade-and-a-half and to assist in appeasing the woes besetting the world economy. Steered by decisive leadership, India is rising to the occasion through a significantly enlarged global profile. India’s commitment to renewable energy through voluntary and ambitious renewable power capacity targets, a lead role in the Paris Climate Agreement negotiations and the International Solar Alliance shows its aspirations of becoming a leader in environment security and climate change mitigation. India has also expanded its global stature in space exploration through widely celebrated breakthroughs such as its recent lunar mission and its distinction of becoming the fourth country worldwide to shoot down a low-orbit satellite with a missile. India, too, is more involved in global humanitarian efforts and development initiatives, including infrastructure development in Afghanistan, the International North-South Transport Corridor, the Ashgabat Agreement, the Chabahar port and the India-Myanmar-Thailand highway.

With half of its population of working age, India has a unique demographic advantage. Climbing to 52nd spot in this year’s Global Innovation Index, India is one of the few countries to have consecutively improved its rank for nine years. Policy solutions inspired by a vision of a regenerative, inclusive and sustainable economy will ensure that the milestone of a $10-trillion economy coincides with a stronger India at the global, national and grassroots level, with ameliorated living outcomes for all. Achieving that scale of change in a country with more than 1.3 billion people who speak dozens of different languages and dialects and have different customs and cultural practices is monumental.

Meanwhile, WEF president during his visit to Pakistan in July 2019 had opined: “Pakistan has largely addressed energy and security challenges during the past five years and it needs to be cautiously optimistic as the economy remains at a critical juncture”. It was Brende’s second visit to Pakistan during the last six years. Earlier, he had visited Pakistan in his capacity as foreign minister of Norway.

Addressing a function in Islamabad, he had stated: “There are positive things happening in Pakistan’s economy. During the past five years, Pakistan has addressed power blackouts and the security situation has also been addressed, which is also good for long-term investment.

I hope that the Doha round of talks with Taliban will improve security situation in the region. Pakistan’s economy is at a very critical juncture and agreement with IMF will address short-term and medium-term challenges. But this will not necessarily address the structural issues.” The WEF president had further opined: “Pakistan needs to be cautiously optimistic as it has to deliver on many counts. There is a need to enhance the tax base, which is important to increase infrastructure spending. The WEF will like to be a real partner of Pakistan in improving human capital skills, as 60 percent of the country’s population is less than 30 years of age”.