Development Cooperation
European Union and Bangladesh Partnership
Bangladesh has made remarkable progress in its development journey. From being one of the poorest nations at birth in 1971, it reached lower-middle income status in 2015 and is no longer dependent on Official Development Assistance.
The EU’s policy and funding partnership with Bangladesh supports actions in numerous fields, from climate change to public finance management, from education and women’s empowerment to village courts, healthcare and nutrition, as well as education and skills development. The EU also furnishes direct support to a wide range of civil society organisations, which have played a key role for Bangladesh’s development.
People-to-people ties are an essential aspect of EU-Bangladesh relations. A good example is the EU’s Erasmus+ scheme, which provides scholarships each year to students from Bangladesh. Moreover, the EU recently launched a Talent Partnership with Bangladesh to boost labour mobility and step-up cooperation on legal pathways for migration. Nevertheless, irregular migration to the EU remains an issue: Bangladeshi citizens are regularly among the top nationalities of irregular migrants arriving in the EU, notably via the central Mediterranean route.
The EU’s Global Gateway initiative has a major footprint in the country: the “Bangladesh Renewable Energy Facility” was the first Global Gateway flagship project established in South Asia. Both the government and private sector have expressed their strong interest in moving further and expanding our cooperation to areas related to digitalisation and circular economy. To note, EIB looks particularly favourably upon further lending possibilities in Bangladesh. The current portfolio is around EUR 900m and EIB has mentioned a possible target of EUR 2bn in energy, rail, water, health and digital.
The EU also delivers substantial humanitarian and other assistance as Bangladesh grapples with the challenges posed by hosting over 1 million Rohingya refugees who continue to flee violence, armed attacks, and human rights violations in neighbouring Myanmar, as well as an increasing number of extreme weather events such as cyclones, which are exacerbated due to climate change.
Growth in the ready-made garment and knitwear sector in Bangladesh over the past three decades has made a significant contribution to economic development, employment, higher income levels and skills in Bangladesh. The EU is now Bangladesh’s principal trading partner. As a Least Developed Country (LDC) Bangladesh has made very good use of duty- and quota-free access to the EU market, garnering a share of over 60% of global imports to the EU under the ‘Everything But Arms’ (EBA) scheme. Bangladesh could potentially graduate from the UN’s LDC list as early as 2026, which would mean that Bangladesh would have to leave the EBA by 2029 under the current GSP (Generalised Scheme of Preferences) regulation. The GSP regulation is being reviewed and the current one has been extended until 2027.
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THE 2021-2027 MULTI-ANNUAL INDICATIVE PROGRAMME
EU-Bangladesh diplomatic relations were established in 1973. In 2001, a cooperation agreement was signed extending to trade, economic and development cooperation, human rights, good governance and the environment.
For the 2021-2027 period, our Multi-annual Indicative Programme (MIP) for Bangladesh prioritises three areas:
- Human Capital Development - covering areas such as education, skills development, access to employment and social protection;
- Green Inclusive Development - focusing on the energy sector and the overall environmental footprint;
- Inclusive Governance - covering governmental and financial institutions, and the inclusion of girls and women.
In addition, the MIP covers cross-cutting issues of migration and forced displacement, security and human rights.
GLOBAL GATEWAY
Global Gateway is the European strategy to boost smart, clean and secure links in digital, energy and transport sectors, and to strengthen health, education and research systems across the world. It is fully aligned with the UN’s Agenda 2030 and its Sustainable Development Goals, as well as the Paris Agreement.
Global Gateway aims to mobilise up to €300 billion in investments in key areas such as quality education, green transition, sustainable growth and decent job creation.
Through a 'Team Europe approach', Global Gateway brings together the European Union, its 27 Member States and their financial and development institutions to mobilise the private sector to leverage investments for a transformational impact.
In Bangladesh, through Team Europe Initiatives, we are currently supporting actions on decent work and green energy transition. These are done in collaboration with Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, France, Italy, Spain, Denmark and Switzerland.
The EU’s Global Gateway initiative has a major footprint in the country: the “Bangladesh Renewable Energy Facility” was the first Global Gateway flagship project established in South Asia. Both the government and private sector have expressed their strong interest in moving further and expanding our cooperation to areas related to digitalisation and circular economy. To note, EIB looks particularly favourably upon further lending possibilities in Bangladesh. The current portfolio is around EUR 900m and EIB has mentioned a possible target of EUR 2bn in energy, rail, water, health and digital.
TEAM EUROPE INITIATIVES
Team Europe Initiative on Decent Work
Under the Team Europe Initiative on Decent Work, the European Union and its Member States share expertise, provide financial and technical support and facilitate an exchange of good practices to support the Government of Bangladesh in improving an enabling environment for jobs and labour rights, and ensuring access to skills development, Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) and employability.
The Team Europe Initiative on Decent Work focuses on two pillars:
1. Skills and employment - ensuring that workers in Bangladesh have increased access to demand-driven skills training and job opportunities with the goals to support diversification of the economy, strengthen socio-economic mobility and increase domestic purchasing power.
2. Enabling environment for jobs and labour rights – ensuring that workers in Bangladesh are able to rely on consistent, cross-sectoral, rule-based workplace safety and protection, in line with minimum international standards.
Team Europe Initiative on Green Energy Transition
The Team Europe Initiative on Green Energy Transition aims at supporting Bangladesh to build a power system that leads to maximum coverage of the country's energy demand through renewable energy while reducing greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption and demand through energy efficiency.
Its four pillars are:
1. Politics and society are aware of the importance of a low carbon development and support a low carbon power system;
2. An effective market for sustainable energy is in place, which sets the right incentives for the best technology at the right place;
3. The grid infrastructure is continuously optimised and, where necessary, expanded to integrate the growing share of variable renewable energy sources, while at the same time the grid operation and ancillary services are adapted to the changing power system
(smart grid);
4. Energy efficiency is enhanced in generation, distribution and private and commercial consumption.