Staff Correspondent
Bangladesh benefitted the most from China’s declining market in the European Union (EU), which is by far Bangladesh’s largest export market; yet, Bangladesh still has a large opportunity to expand its market to at least $18 billion.
Also, as export profits and FDI continue to rise in the EU, illicit investment in Europe from Bangladesh has become a serious problem for Bangladesh, prompting economists and academics to seek assistance in halting this.
Experts were speaking at a seminar titled “50 Years of EU-Bangladesh Partnership: Charting Forward on a Legacy of Success,” held at a Dhaka hotel.
The seminar was co-organized by Research and Policy Integration for Development (Rapid) and Fredrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) Bangladesh.
According to a report published on 50 years of the EU-Bangladesh partnership, titled “Towards a Transformed and Revitalized Trade and Economic Partnership with the EU”, said: “Using the International Trade Centre (ITC) tool, it is estimated that Bangladesh realizes less than 60% of its export potential in the EU market.”
It’s also said in the report that among individual EU countries, Bangladesh utilizes 62% of its potential in Germany, 59.4% in France, 62% in Spain, 54.9% in Poland, 52% in Italy and 45.6% in the Netherlands.
The unutilized export potential for apparel alone is $16 billion.
As special guest Charles Whiteley, EU Ambassador to Bangladesh said: “We will do whatever is necessary to improve relations with Bangladesh. EU investment in Bangladesh has become 2 billion to 6 billion now, I hope it will rise more.”
As a Chief Guest Mashiur Rahman, economic affairs adviser to the prime minister said that money looks for safe haven and in the absence of security and enough investment opportunity, money is laundered.
Rahman also preferred not to allow bringing this illicit money in the country saying it distorts the market.
As a speaker, Imtiaz Ahmed, professor of International Relations at Dhaka University, stated that money from Bangladesh is being laundered to the EU, describing the situation as a “serious problem.”
“It is not getting invested in Bangladesh, it is getting re-invested in the EU,” he noted.
If it was re-invested back in the country, there would be more businesses like hotels.
The writer of the report Mohammad Abdur Razzaque, chairman of Rapid presented the keynote presentation.
He said: “Over the past five decades, the EU has emerged as an indispensable trade and development partner. It is by far the largest export market, as almost half of Bangladesh’s merchandise exports are destined for the EU. Taking advantage of the Everything But Arms (EBA) initiative—designed for providing preferential duty-free and quota-free market access of goods originating from the least developed countries (LDCs), Bangladesh’s combined exports to the EU expanded Rapidly from just $2 billion in 2000-01 to $23.2 billion in 2021-22.”
According to them, in value terms, more than 80% of all Bangladesh’s exports that receive any tariff preferences are obtained from European markets Bangladesh has been the single largest beneficiary of EU LDC-specific trade preferences.
Regarding the official development assistant (ODA), he said around 10%of all ODA received by BGD is due to the EU and EU institutions and individual EU countries providing $2.3 billion during the past five years.
Since 2019, the EU provided significant (€247 million) budget support for social protection and extended support for the Rohingya refugee crisis and pandemic containment efforts.
Before that, Felix Kolbitz, resident representative of FES Bangladesh and Abu Eusuf, executive director of Rapid gave the welcome remarks.
The moderator of the panel discussion was Nazneen Ahmed, country economist of UNDP Bangladesh.
As a discussant, Lailufar Yasmin, chairperson of the Department of International Relations, University of Dhaka, Faruque Hassan, president of Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), Mizan R Khan, deputy director, ICCCAD was also present at the event.

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