Economic cooperation

Economic cooperation and Trade Related Technical Assistance (TRTA) in Bangladesh

Bangladesh receives more EC assistance for Economic Cooperation and Trade Related Technical Assistance (TRTA) than any other Asian country; within the framework of the previous Country Strategy Paper (2002 – 2006), this constituted an allocation of €63 million. In 2006 a new project was developed – The Bangladesh Investment Climate Fund. The aims of the project were to provide support for regulatory reform and the creation of special economic zones, and to increase opportunities and productivity by focusing on increasing and improving the technical and vocational education sector.

In March 2005 the EC conducted a comprehensive Trade Needs Assessment (TNA) to analyse constraints for Bangladesh with regard to its participation in world trade and investment and to prepare an action plan with a prioritised list of TRTA actions to help remove those constraints. The findings of the TNA helped provide a basis for future TRTA activities (detailed in the new CSP), and also assisted the Ministry of Commerce and other development partners in defining cooperation activities.

The portfolio of projects that the EC is currently implementing is designed to help increase trade capacity, and to support export promotion at both governmental and private sector levels. All the economic cooperation and TRTA programmes are united in their collective goal of helping Bangladesh to meet the challenges and opportunities offered by an increasingly globalised market place.

Projects that aim to increase capacity are designed to create awareness, to reduce the cost of doing business in Bangladesh, and to accelerate the reforms that are necessary for the creation of an enabling environment for the private sector.

Projects in the field of economic development aim to strengthen the economic infrastructure, to support the efforts of the private sector to increase competitiveness, and to increase export diversification.

In addition to these bilateral projects, Bangladesh also benefits from the regional Asia Invest Programme and the Asia Trust Fund[1], which support business to business match-making and capacity building. A programme in support of SAARC (the South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation), to improve regional economic integration, is also under consideration.

Several projects address the challenges that have arisen from the Post-Multi Fibre Agreement. The Quality Support Programme[2] has a Textiles and Garment component; the Small Project Facility supports vocational training and technology transfer and our joint support with other donors for the South Asia Enterprise Development Facility[3] (SEDF) strengthens the competitiveness of the garment industry, supports export diversification and addresses the development of the Small and Medium Enterprise sector.