The shifting trends in Bangladesh and Latin America relations
It is worth noting the context in which the prospect of deeper diplomatic relations is growing between Latin America and Bangladesh - the FIFA World Cup in Qatar
Latin America is often referred to as "the middle class of all nations" – neither as rich or prosperous as North American or European countries, nor as impoverished as many South African or Asian countries.
Sharing deep historical memories of decolonisation, cultural and emotional ties, the relations between Bangladesh and Latin American countries have always maintained a thin line of friendly relations. However, thanks to the Qatar World Cup, Argentina is now willing to extend their economic engagement with Bangladesh.
As an economy, Latin America has experienced many social and cultural shifts under neoliberal development experiments since the 1970s. In the 19th century, most of the countries, including Argentina, Bolivia and Chile, freed themselves from the Spanish, Portuguese or French colonial rule.
By 1898, all countries of Latin America gradually achieved full-fledged independence. These countries for a long time focused only on trade control and protection mechanisms to promote their domestic industries.
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The economic depression and the Second World War compelled the countries to gradually integrate their economies in the region through forming LAFTA (Latin American Free Trade Association) and Central American Common Market.
Slowly expanding their outreach, this region is now primarily an exporter hub of sugar, bananas, coffee, linseed oil, copper and iron ore, earning a per capita income around USD 8,328 per year.
Bangladesh, on the other hand, is widely known as the exporting ready-made garments and apparel hub for the global market. As an economy, the country managed to track its GDP growth by 7.5% in the 2022-23 FY.
Bangladesh is presently an important industrial hub for textiles, medicines, finished leathers, jute and jute items, information technology and small ocean vessels. In 2021-22, the per capita income in Bangladesh was $2,824, indicating a small economy compared to Latin America.
The Qatar World Cup 2022 might be a trigger point for a shifting trend in Bangladesh and Latin America relations. Previously, the relations between the countries of two different regions were limited to trade, culture and forum-centric soft power issues. However, it is changing.
Ignited by the unprecedented support of the Bangladeshi people for Argentina in the World Cup, now the latter wants to re-open their embassy in Bangladesh. Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard Casaubon is scheduled for a high-level delegation visit to Dhaka this March, hoping to open a Mexican embassy here too.
Venezuela, Dominican Republic, Peru, Columbia and others are also expressing interests to forge deeper economic ties and enhance mutual cooperation in future investments here.
Throughout the Cold War, foreign involvement cast a permanent shadow over Latin American politics. This created domestic polarization of left-right politics, a change that superseded 200 years of cyclical democracy.
After the 2000s, South America's "Pink Tide" made spaces for center-right candidates all over Peru, Ecuador, Chile and Colombia, a persistent 'right'-driven shift in the regional political atmosphere.
In the Cold War period, not isolationism rather transnationalism, anti-imperialism racial solidarity and Third Worldism united citizens of twenty different countries, often known as Non-Aligned Movement or NAM. Since the 1950s, the Southern countries from Latin America, Africa and South-East Asia have maintained their solidarity space separated from great power rivalry. Similarly, Bangladesh's balancing foreign policy may be a pushing factor for Latin America's growing interest in diplomatic engagement.
The engagement may spill over into cooperation in other areas as well. For example, Mercosur-Latin American trade bloc now comprises over USD 1.9 trillion GDP, one of the largest trading blocs in the world. Even the informal trade volume had grown to USD 41 billion back in 2010.
Argentina is eager to invite Bangladesh in enjoying free trade, tariff reduction facilities through Mercosur, a bona fide market diversifying opportunity for the latter as there is no effective free-trade area functioning in South Asia.
This effort has been lauded by former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, a country also extending their bilateral economic partnership with Bangladesh in recent times.
Increased regional integration on a regional basis is often called "Multilateralizing Regionalism", which refers to the regional trade-blocs such as Mercosur, the Andean Community, the Central American Common Market and CARICOM. The benefits of such regionalism are many as increased interdependence can integrate economic space and also add weight to the negotiation power in multilateral trade forums such as World Trade Organization or World Trade Forum.
Currently, Bangladesh is part of only three multilateral economic alliances – D 8, APTA and SAFTA. Joining another multilateral alliance over the pacific ocean means the international market diversifying opportunities is greater for Bangladesh than any other country in South Asia.
However, Bangladesh should also consider regional distance, relative negotiation power capacities and national interests in joining any such forum as many countries are popping up with their friendly interests. Bangladesh needs to choose friendship selectively, based on its values of people, power and democracy.
In the wider landscape, multilateral trade engagement with Latin America ought to be successful. As a proven regional integration forum, the continent has been successful since the 1990s.
The SAARC, though established much before, did not succeed enough to the extent of Mercosur. Perhaps this will be a learning for Bangladesh also, on how to incentivise and accentuate such initiatives in the South Asian region, a future win-win situation for both South Asia and Latin America as well.
Towkir Hossain is a Dhaka-based research analyst on international affairs and strategic issues.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of The Business Standard.
