Bangladesh exploring potentials for ‘deepening cooperation’ with Bogota: ambassador to Colombia

[Black_cats]

Published on 06:55 PM, July 03, 2021
Bangladesh exploring potentials for ‘deepening cooperation’ with Bogota: ambassador to Colombia

www.thedailystar.net/bangladesh/news/bangladesh-exploring-potentials-deepening-cooperation-bogota-ambassador-colombia-2123293%3famp

Ambassador M Shahidul Islam presents credentials to the Colombian President as the non-resident Ambassador of Bangladesh to Colombia. Photo: Collected
Star Digital Report

Bangladesh is exploring the potentials for deepening cooperation and overall relations with Colombia, said Bangladesh's non-resident Ambassador to Colombia, M Shahidul Islam.

He made the statement as he presented credentials to the South American country's President Iván Duque Márquez, in a ceremony held at the Presidential Palace in Bogota, Colombia on June 30.

Shahidul Islam, who is also the Ambassador to the USA, conveyed warm greetings of Bangladesh's President and Prime Minister during a meeting with the Colombian president after the presentation ceremony.

He noted that Bangladesh and Colombia enjoy excellent relations, and both the countries share similar views on many international issues like international peace, security, and stability, fight against terrorism and violent extremism, human rights, sustainable development goals, and climate change.

He also added that it is time to explore the untapped potentials of the two countries for further strengthening the relations in diverse areas.

Besides, he also thanked the Colombian government for their consistent support to the UN on the Rohingya issue.

Appreciating Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's leadership role in promoting the cause of the climate-vulnerable countries, President Iván Duque Márquez agreed to participate at the High-Level Opening Session of the Climate Vulnerable Finance Summit organised by the Vulnerable Twenty (V20) Group of Ministers of Finance to take place virtually on July 8 this year.

The Colombian president emphasized that the two countries have common goals and aspirations, and they would continue to work together to strengthen bilateral relations.

Earlier, Ambassador Shahidul Islam attended a luncheon hosted by Vice President, and Foreign Minister of Colombia, Marta Lucía Ramírez and discussed a range of bilateral issues, including greater bilateral engagement, economic and trade cooperation, upcoming challenges of the Covid pandemic, vaccine cooperation, Rohingya issue, and counterterrorism.

Later, the Ambassador met Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Francisco Echeverri Lara and other senior officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Colombia.

 

[mb444]

Waste of time..... concentrate on europe, north america, south asia, africa and asean, china and australasia....

I just can not see how we could possibly be economically competitive selling our current export basket there. We need more high value items before venturing there. Only thing i see that may have potential in south america is our pharma sector.

 

[Bilal9]

Published on 06:55 PM, July 03, 2021
Bangladesh exploring potentials for ‘deepening cooperation’ with Bogota: ambassador to Colombia

www.thedailystar.net/bangladesh/news/bangladesh-exploring-potentials-deepening-cooperation-bogota-ambassador-colombia-2123293%3famp

Ambassador M Shahidul Islam presents credentials to the Colombian President as the non-resident Ambassador of Bangladesh to Colombia. Photo: Collected
Star Digital Report

Bangladesh is exploring the potentials for deepening cooperation and overall relations with Colombia, said Bangladesh's non-resident Ambassador to Colombia, M Shahidul Islam.

He made the statement as he presented credentials to the South American country's President Iván Duque Márquez, in a ceremony held at the Presidential Palace in Bogota, Colombia on June 30.

Shahidul Islam, who is also the Ambassador to the USA, conveyed warm greetings of Bangladesh's President and Prime Minister during a meeting with the Colombian president after the presentation ceremony.

He noted that Bangladesh and Colombia enjoy excellent relations, and both the countries share similar views on many international issues like international peace, security, and stability, fight against terrorism and violent extremism, human rights, sustainable development goals, and climate change.

He also added that it is time to explore the untapped potentials of the two countries for further strengthening the relations in diverse areas.

Besides, he also thanked the Colombian government for their consistent support to the UN on the Rohingya issue.

Appreciating Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's leadership role in promoting the cause of the climate-vulnerable countries, President Iván Duque Márquez agreed to participate at the High-Level Opening Session of the Climate Vulnerable Finance Summit organised by the Vulnerable Twenty (V20) Group of Ministers of Finance to take place virtually on July 8 this year.

The Colombian president emphasized that the two countries have common goals and aspirations, and they would continue to work together to strengthen bilateral relations.

Earlier, Ambassador Shahidul Islam attended a luncheon hosted by Vice President, and Foreign Minister of Colombia, Marta Lucía Ramírez and discussed a range of bilateral issues, including greater bilateral engagement, economic and trade cooperation, upcoming challenges of the Covid pandemic, vaccine cooperation, Rohingya issue, and counterterrorism.

Later, the Ambassador met Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Francisco Echeverri Lara and other senior officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Colombia.

I am glad that Bangladesh has finally awakened to the very large possibility of trade with South American "MercoSur" countries (meaning "Common Market of the South (American Region)" .

Colombia, Chile, Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina are huge potential markets and populations (bolded ones especially, although economically their position is not as strong as Europe, lifestyle wise they largely are because of mostly European and mixed ancestry).

Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador are economically even less strong (but better in some cases than Bangladesh), but they also have large populations relative to their size and growing economies.

All these countries could be potential and heavily lucrative markets for our products and also for bulk commodity and agri imports, especially Brazil.

 

[Bilal9]

Waste of time..... concentrate on europe, north america, south asia, africa and asean, china and australasia....

I just can not see how we could possibly be economically competitive selling our current export basket there. We need more high value items before venturing there. Only thing i see that may have potential in south america is our pharma sector.

Well I personally am not sure we can ignore Mercosur as a trade destination.

India does several Billions of dollars of trade yearly with Mercosur countries (Vehicles, Pharma, plastics, boilers, machinery, electrical items and organic chemicals, among other things, especially cheaper pharma items which these countries have large markets of) and on top of it has a Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) with MercoSur as a group. With the exception of vehicles and machinery, we have similar items for export. Why should we not pursue these opportunities?

In fact our export basket is increasingly more diverse (things other than apparel). Our bicycle exports alone could be very promising, not to mention electrical items used in homes such as wall switches/outlets, home appliances like Irons, toasters, rice cookers etc. Shipbuilding is another promising field, we have made some ship exports to Ecuador already.

Here is a ship made by Western Marine Chittagong in ISLA BARTOLOME — in Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, Galápagos, Ecuador. This particular vessel is also named MV ISLA BARTOLOME.

The Ecuadorian President himself flagged off the commissioning of this vessel

We can start small but the potential is huge.

Read the following on why India has a PTA with MercoSur.

India-MERCOSUR Preferential Trade Agreement

Origin of goods. India-MERCOSUR Agreement Argentina, Brazil

en.reingex.com

India’s relations with MERCOSUR

MERCOSUR is a trading bloc that has six member countries of Latin America viz. Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay being the founding members, Venezuela joining Mercosur

diplomatist.com

Brazil is one of India's top trade partners in Mercosur. Here is an excerpt from Indian MEA,

https://www.mea.gov.in/Portal/ForeignRelation/Brazil__May_2014.pdf

"Major portion of Indian exports to Brazil comprises of manufactured products, followed by commodities and then semi manufactured goods. Whereas, Brazil's exports to India are dominated by commodities, mainly crude oil. Diesel exports by Reliance itself account for more than 52% of India's exports to Brazil, up from the forty one percent of India's exports in 2012. Other top Indian products exported to Brazil are: Polyester Yarn, Chemical Products, Drugs and Cotton Yarn. Most of these products have registered growth in 2013. Top products imported by India from Brazil include crude oil (imported by Reliance, accounting for, in 2013, 51% of total Indian imports or US$1.6 billion); 4 sugar (imported by Renuka Sugar India from Renuka do Brazil, at US$ 435 million, accounting for almost 14% of total imports); soy oil imports (US$233 million) and copper (US$240 million). Like Petroleum, the top 5 Brazilian exports to India viz. sugar, Soybean oil crude, Sulphide copper ores and other Copper ores and concentrates, all showed a negative growth in 2013 over the year 2012."

Of course - Bangladesh can get some of these Brazilian imports substituted by those from Indonesia, Australia and China, however looks like sugarcane and soy oil are lucrative imports from Brazil.

However India recently have made very bad names for themselves by first exporting their crap helicopters to Ecuador, then trying to stamp out the bad publicity by paying off Ecuadorian Air Force officials and even going further by shamelessly trying for sales with other Mercosur countries. This is called Sanghi greed.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Following the crash of one of the Dhruvs in October 2009, Ecuador reportedly considered returning their six helicopters to HAL amid claims of being unfit for service;[86] EAF commander Genl. Rodrigo Bohorquez stated "If it is a major problem that can't be easily remedied, we would have to return [the Dhruv]." HAL assisted the crash investigation, which found the cause to be pilot error.[87] In February 2011, the EAF were reported to be satisfied with the Dhruv's performance and was considering further orders.[88]

By October 2015, a total of four Ecuadorian Dhruvs had crashed reportedly due to mechanical equipment and Ecuador grounded the type.[89] In October 2015 Ecuador cancelled the contract and withdrew the surviving helicopters from service, non-delivery of parts and high accident rate were cited.[90]

In 2016, the Ecuadorian Minister of Defence Ricardo Patiño announced that the remainder of the HAL Dhruv helicopters of the Ecuadorian Air Force, which are stored at the Guayaquil Air Base are for sale and that the Air Force is looking for potential buyers.[91]
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Looks like Ecoadorian AF got stuck with Indian Galat Maal.

We call this in Bangladesh,

"Jaigai Acchila bansh, hatey hurricane"

 

[Bilal9]

Indian Pharma majors specializing in generics have set up shop in Brazil or other Mercosur countries by purchasing local pharma companies and using them to circumvent import duties for finished products. They only re-package bulk Indian-made pharma products, not make anything there.

Sanghi dhokeybaaji like this is helped by subsidies from Indian govt. Here are the larger Indian Pharma outfits doing this - manufacturing in South American countries to make money in those markets and maybe even export to US, Canada and EU.

1. Lupin Limited (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lupin_Limited#Mexico_&_Latin_America)
2. Cadila Zydus Healthcare Ltd (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadila_Healthcare)
3. Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.
4. Piramal Enterprises Ltd.
5. IPCA Laboratories Ltd.
6. Gufic BioSciences Ltd.
7. Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd.
8. Cipla Ltd.
   
   They do this in Bangladesh too (Sun Pharma does this in Dhaka by importing Indian-made bulk drugs into Bangladesh, re-packaging and re-exporting to developed markets) as Bangladesh enjoys no-tariff exports on generic pharma products to developing countries, before it gets out of LDC status. Re-packaging adds very little value, but our corrupt Bangladeshi ministers are allowing it to happen when it comes to Indian companies by looking the other way.