Samina Akhter
The territories of Bangladesh and Afghanistan, which mark the eastern and western outlines of South Asia, are separated by more than 2,474 kilometers. Despite the fact that both of these nations have inherited war-related legacies, the two Islamic countries have diverse priorities with distinction in their nation-building orientation. Due to the geographical distance and divergent interests, the volume of bilateral trade between these countries is small. However, industry experts believe there is room for growth if the instability in Afghanistan normalizes. According to experts, Bangladesh’s commerce with Afghanistan, which suffered a setback due to the latter’s shifting status following the Taliban takeover, would resume and maybe even exceed prior levels once the nation achieves long-term peace. Bangladesh shipped $8.64 million worth of commodities to the war-torn nation in FY21, a 50 percent increase over the previous year, but no data on imports was available on the central bank’s website at the time. According to a trustworthy source at the Bangladesh Bank, Bangladesh’s imports from the nation totaled more than $20 million in the previous fiscal year. Bangladesh’s bilateral trade with the nation totaled $15.04 million in FY20, with imports slightly outnumbering exports. 88 percent of the country’s exports to Afghanistan are pharmaceutical items. Because of the current volatile situation in Afghanistan, Md Shafiuzzaman, secretary general of the Bangladesh Association of Pharmaceutical Industries, warned that they would have trouble transporting medications to Afghanistan. But everything will be alright once the situation there gets normalized. He also anticipated that in the future, medication shipments to the nation would expand. While Bangladeshi medications are now exported to 151 countries, 20 to 25 Bangladeshi pharmaceutical enterprises export pharmaceuticals to the country. In FY 21, Bangladesh mostly exported pharmaceutical products to Afghanistan worth $7.63 million. Besides, overall revenues from the item exported to Afghanistan in fiscal 2019-20 were $5.77 million, with $4.86 million in pharmaceutical supplies. The other products included vegetables, textile fibres, paper yarn, cereals, flour, sugar and electrical items etc. Dr. Mustafizur Rahman, a distinguished fellow at the Centre for Policy Dialogue expressed that Bangladesh’s exports with Afghanistan have potential to improve. However, the situation now is different. Import-export activity will be a source of uncertainty.He believes, however, that once the situation settles down, trading will resume. According to Dr. Ahsan H Mansur, executive director of the Policy Research Institute, imports from both nations will be restricted in the current scenario. Bangladesh’s exports to the country’s market might expand much more if nothing goes wrong.By all accounts, the balance of trade is in favor of Afghanistan as Bangladesh avails from it a lot of fruits, nuts, textile and textile articles, plastic goods and rubber items. For addition, in FY20, Bangladesh imported $9.27 million from Afghanistan.Among the imports of Bangladesh from Afghanistan, vegetables account for a vast majority. Only $8.8 million of the $9.27 million in imports from Afghanistan in FY20 was for vegetables. Moreover, textiles, plastics and rubber, chemical goods, minerals, and other commodities are among the products imported from the nation. Afghanistan ranked 74th out of 201 nations and territories in terms of exports in the previous fiscal year. According to the Export Promotion Bureau, Bangladesh’s exports to the war-torn country in FY21 were greater than Bhutan and the Maldives in South Asia (EPB). On the other hand, India remained Bangladesh’s biggest exporting partner in South Asia as the country exported $1.28 billion worth of goods in FY21 to India, a 16.7% rise from the previous fiscal year. It was followed by Pakistan ($82.71 million), Nepal ($68.66 million) and Sri Lanka ($47.32 million). It may appear a little hasty to estimate the bilateral economic potentiality between Afghanistan and Bangladesh, especially amid the catastrophic humanitarian and governing crisis in Afghanistan. Given Bangladesh’s urgency to expand its export destinations- will face a critical challenge as soon as it graduates from least developed country to middle income country. Apparently, the current situation in Afghanistan does not support a full-fledged trading relationship. But Bangladesh has been an important partner for Afghanistan in its rebuilding efforts under the previous regime. Besides recent trade related statistics shows the substantial merit of trade relation between Afghanistan and Bangladesh even in acute crisis. Given the present scenario in Afghanistan, it is hard to anticipate where the commercial relation will go in the future. However, the potential for trade between these nations should not be underestimated.
