Need for branding Bangladesh successfully
It is an unfortunate reality in the case of Bangladesh that its positives do hardly receive any international attention and the negatives get precedence over everything else. Thus, it is commonly identified as a land of natural disaster and as a country experiencing continuous political confrontation with all its adverse fall-outs ranging from corruption to colossal policy blunders. The international media tend to focus only on such negatives, blowing them out of proportion, relative to other parts of the globe, when there is any coverage of happenings and developments in Bangladesh. And such coverage is also a rare commodity.
It is regrettable that the great endurance capacities of Bangladeshis to struggle against overwhelming odds and, still, to make steady progress in various fields are often overlooked and only the ills are magnified. Under such circumstances, there is, thus, a general tendency among the international community to draw parallels for Bangladesh with countries facing too serious difficulties. The fact that Bangladesh, with its backwardness and structural deficiencies, has nonetheless made some significant progress in social sectors and economic fields that would make some emerging countries envious of it.
Notwithstanding this, it would not, however, be realistic to blame external quarters always for this poor focus on Bangladesh. In all fairness, Bangladeshis ought to recognise their own deficiencies in projecting their own country properly. This is where the branding Bangladesh assumes crucial importance. The country's policy makers and planners have succeeded little in imprinting on the minds of the international audience that Bangladeshis invented micro-credit to fend off poverty, and are willingly sharing it with the rest of the world. Bangladesh is competing with the giants of the world in ready-made garments and this sector is successfully growing each year. Shipbuilding, pharmaceuticals, food-processing and information technology (IT) are emerging sectors in this country and activities in such fields are already showing signs of some remarkable progress. Of late, the country has been diversifying its conventional and non-conventional export products as well as finding out new outlets for them. On the whole, the economy of Bangladesh is on a higher growth path. This is otherwise corroborated by forecasts made by Goldman Sachs Economic Research team about Bangladesh turning into the 22nd largest economy in the world by 2025, with a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of $208 billion.
Bangladesh's labour cost is the cheapest in Asia or the world. This factor is likely to put it in a favourable position, if other conditions remain conducive to attract foreign direct investment, now that there is a strong trend about relocation of production bases, away from countries where labour costs are fast rising. The positives about Bangladesh under the given circumstances could have given a better opportunity to harness its potential for accelerated growth, had the country been properly branded for its worthwhile developments. That would also have made it easier to push behind its otherwise unfortunate negative international outlook. Some core export products from Bangladesh do, indeed, need branding on proper marketing lines. The country image of Bangladesh as a whole needs to be promoted on the whole indicating its possibilities or potentials. To cite here an example only, Bangladesh is considered to be falling behind in the race to have its Sunderbans selected as one of the seven wonders of nature in the world. But the title of natural wonder is urgent for branding Bangladesh successfully. All should vote for the Sundarbans, particularly because the answer is: the coming days will be competitive for Bangladesh to survive as a competitive nation. The selection of the Sanderbans as one of the seven greatest natural wonders can be a very strong factor for letting the rest of the world to appreciate better its position and attractions. Furthermore, this will help promote tourism. The selection of the Sunderbans for the purpose mentioned here will provide a boost for acceleration of the pace of all-round development efforts for Bangladesh.
Need for branding Bangladesh successfully
It is an unfortunate reality in the case of Bangladesh that its positives do hardly receive any international attention and the negatives get precedence over everything else. Thus, it is commonly identified as a land of natural disaster and as a country experiencing continuous political confrontation with all its adverse fall-outs ranging from corruption to colossal policy blunders. The international media tend to focus only on such negatives, blowing them out of proportion, relative to other parts of the globe, when there is any coverage of happenings and developments in Bangladesh. And such coverage is also a rare commodity.
It is regrettable that the great endurance capacities of Bangladeshis to struggle against overwhelming odds and, still, to make steady progress in various fields are often overlooked and only the ills are magnified. Under such circumstances, there is, thus, a general tendency among the international community to draw parallels for Bangladesh with countries facing too serious difficulties. The fact that Bangladesh, with its backwardness and structural deficiencies, has nonetheless made some significant progress in social sectors and economic fields that would make some emerging countries envious of it.
Notwithstanding this, it would not, however, be realistic to blame external quarters always for this poor focus on Bangladesh. In all fairness, Bangladeshis ought to recognise their own deficiencies in projecting their own country properly. This is where the branding Bangladesh assumes crucial importance. The country's policy makers and planners have succeeded little in imprinting on the minds of the international audience that Bangladeshis invented micro-credit to fend off poverty, and are willingly sharing it with the rest of the world. Bangladesh is competing with the giants of the world in ready-made garments and this sector is successfully growing each year. Shipbuilding, pharmaceuticals, food-processing and information technology (IT) are emerging sectors in this country and activities in such fields are already showing signs of some remarkable progress. Of late, the country has been diversifying its conventional and non-conventional export products as well as finding out new outlets for them. On the whole, the economy of Bangladesh is on a higher growth path. This is otherwise corroborated by forecasts made by Goldman Sachs Economic Research team about Bangladesh turning into the 22nd largest economy in the world by 2025, with a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of $208 billion.
Bangladesh's labour cost is the cheapest in Asia or the world. This factor is likely to put it in a favourable position, if other conditions remain conducive to attract foreign direct investment, now that there is a strong trend about relocation of production bases, away from countries where labour costs are fast rising. The positives about Bangladesh under the given circumstances could have given a better opportunity to harness its potential for accelerated growth, had the country been properly branded for its worthwhile developments. That would also have made it easier to push behind its otherwise unfortunate negative international outlook. Some core export products from Bangladesh do, indeed, need branding on proper marketing lines. The country image of Bangladesh as a whole needs to be promoted on the whole indicating its possibilities or potentials. To cite here an example only, Bangladesh is considered to be falling behind in the race to have its Sunderbans selected as one of the seven wonders of nature in the world. But the title of natural wonder is urgent for branding Bangladesh successfully. All should vote for the Sundarbans, particularly because the answer is: the coming days will be competitive for Bangladesh to survive as a competitive nation. The selection of the Sanderbans as one of the seven greatest natural wonders can be a very strong factor for letting the rest of the world to appreciate better its position and attractions. Furthermore, this will help promote tourism. The selection of the Sunderbans for the purpose mentioned here will provide a boost for acceleration of the pace of all-round development efforts for Bangladesh.
Need for branding Bangladesh successfully
