Asia

In August 2017, a deadly ethnic clearance operation, backed by the Myanmar military against the minority Rohingya (Muslim) population in Rakhine state, began the displacement of thousands of Rohingyas. By the end of 2017, around 745,000 people had fled to Cox’s Bazar, a district in southeast Bangladesh. Bangladesh, though not a signatory to the 1951 refugee convention, and despite being a country with a high population density, sheltered and welcomed these forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals on an ad hoc basis. By April 2019, more than 900,000 Rohingyas were living in coastal Bangladesh, and today about 90% of the Rohingya population lives in Bangladesh. With limited financial resources, Bangladesh, in collaboration with donor and global aid bodies, has worked hard to provide shelt...

New Delhi, Feb 21 (KNN) India and Sri Lanka are poised to advance discussions on the Economic and Trade Cooperation Agreement (ETCA), with upcoming bilateral talks set for later this month and in March. This development marks significant progress for both nations, as previous attempts to finalise the pact faced obstacles, including opposition from certain worker unions and nationalist politicians in Sri Lanka. The ETCA negotiations, which were initiated during the Maithripala Sirisena-Ranil Wickremesinghe administration, saw 11 rounds of discussions between 2016 and 2019 but failed to reach fruition due to protests in Sri Lanka. However, under President Wickremesinghe's leadership, discussions resumed last year, signalling a renewed commitment to bolstering economic ties between ...

Connectivity, industrial development and trade were the key themes in discussions over economic cooperation between Bangladesh and India. The Planning Commissions of both countries were at the forefront of negotiations to envision a new economic and industrial future. After 1971, Bangladesh set up a newly minted planning commission with economists trained from Cambridge and Harvard. The new commission sought to adapt best practices from both India and Pakistan. The Indian model was a research-centric commission, whereas the Pakistani model was a centralized commission overseen by the head of state. Diversifying exports The trade deficit with India was one of the areas identified by the Bangladesh Planning Commission for redressal. Professor Rehman Sobhan, who served in the first ...

In 2023, Sri Lanka faced a complex interplay of economic and political challenges. Although fuel and food queues have disappeared, the dire impact of the economic crisis was inescapable. Sri Lanka’s economic outlook was initially grim, with a 3.1 per cent GDP contraction in the second quarter of 2023 and a projected 2 per cent shrinkage for the year. The first quarter saw an alarming 11.5 per cent contraction, highlighting the severity of the crisis. Despite a peak inflation rate of 70 per cent in September, it dropped to 3.4 per cent in November due to subdued demand, offering temporary relief for poorer households The World Bank later revised its forecasts, noting Sri Lanka’s progress in reducing inflation and benefits accruing from tourism revenue and currency appreciation. The B...

Thailand and Sri Lanka have signed a Free Trade Agreement (FTA), a move Sri Lanka hopes will help it emerge from its worst financial crisis in decades. “This move aims to enhance market opportunities, with negotiations covering various aspects such as Trade in Goods, Investment, Customs Procedure, and Intellectual Property Rights,” read a statement published on Saturday by the Sri Lankan president’s media department. The island nation has been renewing a focus on trade deals to foster economic growth and help its battered economy, which is estimated by the World Bank to have contracted 3.8 percent last year after a severe foreign exchange crunch plunged it into a wider financial crisis. A delegation headed by Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin arrived in Colombo on Saturday to ...