The second challenge relates to economic management and quality of performance. Once a developing country is able to increase the efficiency of its industries in both export-oriented and import-substitution industries, it can afford to adopt trade agreements with reciprocal tariff concessions rather than seeking unilateral trade preferences. Is. For example, Vietnam has signed several bilateral trade and investment protection agreements with many countries, including Japan, the UK, the EU and most recently the US.
Western powers, especially the US, could ignore human rights issues of communist Vietnam because they were not giving any reciprocal trade priority and also because of the geopolitical strategy of neutralizing Vietnam’s deep trade ties with China. Additionally, the recently signed US-Vietnam partnership agreement will allow Vietnam to access technologies related to AI, microchips and semiconductors, in which countries such as Malaysia and India are also interested.
These are all important lessons, especially for Bangladesh, which is set to graduate from LDC status and, in a few years, will no longer be able to claim trade preferences based on such status.
* Waheeduddin Mahmood is an economist and former advisor to the caretaker government