Bangladesh has nothing to lose as the United Kingdom prepares to leave the European Union on Friday with massive plans to commemorate the historic event.
British High Commissioner in Dhaka Robert Dickson indicated that Bangladesh would gain in the long run due to the ‘natural connections’ between the two countries.
Economist Dr Ahsan H Mansur told Bangladesh Post that UK has already assured Bangladesh that they will keep the market access as it is. “So we have nothing to lose.”
With over $4 billion exports, the UK is the third single largest destination for Bangladesh’s exports where all products enjoy duty-free market access following the EU’s 'everything but arms regime'. Britain is also the second largest investors apart from its development aid. Over half a million people of Bangladesh origin live in the UK.
Britain leaving the EU, which is known as Brexit, however, means fresh negotiations would be needed for Bangladesh to retain the market access. It has triggered concerns, despite assurances from British ministers who have recently visited Bangladesh.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson also assured Bangladesh of doing more business even after the Brexit during his visit to Dhaka in February 2018 as the foreign minister.
“Once we are leaving the EU we want to intensify our bilateral relations and will do more trade together,” he had said.
The British High Commissioner, briefing reporters on Thursday, said his Prime Minister unveiled the government’s full plans to commemorate Brexit day on Friday.
The historic moment will be marked through the commemorative 50p coin which will come into circulation on the day the UK leaves the EU.
The public will see 3 million of these coins enter their banks, shops and restaurants from the 31 January, with a further 7 million entering circulation later this year.
The Prime Minister will be one of the first to receive the new Brexit coin, which reads ‘Peace, prosperity and friendship with all nations’. 13,000 people have already registered their interest in the coin with The Royal Mint.
The Prime Minister and all of his Cabinet will begin the day in the North of England for a special Cabinet. They will discuss the PM’s levelling up agenda and how best to spread prosperity and opportunity across all corners of the UK, as the country looks ahead to the next decade.
Later in the evening, the Prime Minister will deliver a special address to the people across the UK at 10pm. No10 is set to mark the hour itself with a commemorative light display in Downing Street.
This will take place ahead of 11pm, which is the hour that the UK will officially leave the European Union. A countdown clock will be projected onto its black bricks from 10pm and the light display will symbolise the strength and unity of our four nations.
On February 1, the new GREAT ‘Ready to Trade’ campaign will launch in 17 cities across 13 countries outside the EU, as the UK seeks to deepen our relationships with future global partners.
Union Jack flags will also line Parliament Square and the Mall on Friday and the public will see government buildings in Whitehall lit up in red, white and blue colours throughout the evening.
The Brexit follows Britain’s 2016 referendum on EU membership that split the country with 52 percent opted to leave the 28-nation bloc, and 48 percent voted to remain.
So, the departure will be the melancholy moment for pro-Europeans. For Brexit supporters, it will be the instant the UK once again becomes a sovereign nation after 47 years of membership in the EU club.
The High Commissioner said the UK will immediately enter into an 11-month transition period after Brexit on Friday. During that period, the UK will continue to obey the EU rules. After that he expects there will be arrangements to make it easy for Bangladesh to continue exports to the UK.
He said Britain will also look at increasing their exports from the current amount of only $450 million.
“The point of becoming independent and sovereign country is to put the focus on countries beyond Europe including fast growing large economies like Bangladesh,” he said.
“In the longer term there is real opportunity for us to do more with the country (Bangladesh) with which we have huge amount of natural connections whether its people to people, trade , development, security and of course cricket. And that will continue.”
Economist Ahsan Mansur is also sanguine. “Bilateral agreement has to be done to keep uninterrupted duty free access. This would be our main target after Brexit,” he told Bangladesh Post.
“British government also assured that there will be no change. But after Bangladesh’s graduation from the LDC, we’ll have to negotiate separately so that we can have access after the graduation”.
He, however, said Bangladesh have more leverages than others. “We have deep cultural and political ties with the UK. So we can expect similar or better terms from the UK. Our relation is stronger with the UK than the EU as a whole.”
“So there would be no loss for us Bangladesh should not be negatively impacted. The rest will depend on how we use our relations at the bilateral level.”