Recently, Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina along with her entourage completed a five-day official visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in response to the invitations from Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Prime Minister (PM) of the UAE and ruler of Dubai. It is a time-honoured decision to decode the significance of her visit to the gulf country.

On March 8, 2022, she attended a high-level panel discussion titled “Redefining the Future of Women” on the occasion of International Women Day. As the longest-serving women Head of Government in the world, she represented women at the panel discussion. By formulating various women-friendly policies, designing action plans, and enacting several laws for protecting their rights, the Hasina-led government became the pioneer of women empowerment. She got recognition from UNESCO with a memento titled, ‘Peace Tree’, for her outstanding contribution to girls’ and women’s education. In this visit, she actually represented Bangladesh’s women and brightened the country’s image on women empowerment at the global stage.

On this visit, she participated in a bilateral meeting with the PM of the UAE where they praised the deep ties and strategic partnership existing between Bangladesh and the Middle Eastern country highlighting the importance of strengthening bilateral relations to further the mutual interests. During that meeting, the two leaders discussed different issues of mutual concern and explored new avenues to strengthen cooperation in the multilateral sectors to serve the development goals of both nations.

At the end of the meeting, the two leaders witnessed the signing of several Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) aimed at boosting further cooperation between these two friendly countries. Among these instruments, one was on cooperation in Higher Education and Scientific Research between Bangladesh and the UAE. This MoU will create more higher-studies opportunities for Bangladeshi students in the UAE. Apart from this, this agreement will create space for cooperation in scientific research. Another MoU was signed between Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS) and the Emirates Centre for Strategic Studies and Research (ECSSR) under which both countries will focus on analysing the strategic issues on which they have common interest.

The third MoU was signed on the cooperation between the foreign services academies of Bangladesh and the UAE. Now, concerned ministries of both countries can work together to enhance the expertise of the officials of foreign services. And, the final MoU signed between them was on cooperation between the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) and Dubai International Chamber. This will create direct linkage between the business person of both countries which will lead to more bilateral trade and investment.

While addressing in the Joint Business Council (JBC) organised by the business communities of Bangladesh and the UAE, the PM defined Bangladesh as land of lucrative opportunities spelling out numerous initiatives undertaken so far to create a business environment conducive to the foreign investors. Also, she highlighted that the financial markets of Bangladesh are now ready to support advanced private equity and fin-tech solutions. Through this visit, Bangladesh has been represented in a positive light to the UAE investors to have more FDI inflow to Bangladesh.

Currently, the annual two-way trade volume between Bangladesh and the UAE is around USD 1.5 billion. Presently, the gulf country is the fifth largest foreign investor in Bangladesh with a total accumulated investment worth around USD 2.5 billion. As the two countries are going to celebrate the golden jubilee of their bilateral ties after two years from now, this state-level visit will definitely boost bilateral trade, foreign investment, and people to people contact with more cooperation and collaboration than before.

The UAE Centennial 2071 aims to make UAE the best country of the world by the year 2071. And, Bangladesh’s Vision-2041 aims to make it a high-income country. To realise the above-mentioned development visions, Bangladesh has shown interest in working closely with the UAE by establishing a ‘comprehensive economic partnership’ that will tap optimum mutual benefit from the huge potentials the two countries offer to each other.

Increasing manpower export is an important part of Bangladesh’s foreign policy. As leaders of both countries emphasised on enhancing not only trade and investment but also manpower export from Bangladesh, this visit will increase remittance inflow to Bangladesh by creating opportunities for sending more people to the UAE. Expectedly, this visit will enhance bilateral trade and investment between the two countries through more cooperation and collaboration as they eye to elevate the relationship to a comprehensive partnership with deeper economic and political engagement.

The writer is a women’s rights activist