What does Belt and Road Initiative Connote for Bangladesh : A Window of Opportunities or Potential Challenges?

Much speculation has been spurred among scholars and policy-makers around the world regarding Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), previously known as One Belt One Road (OBOR). There is no denying the fact that it is the biggest initiative of its kind under the leadership of a single nation, China, recorded in human history, and if implemented properly, could prove a game-changing grand initiative, which would change the geopolitical landscape of Eurasia to China’s favor. Nevertheless, many critics have dubbed it as China’s own “Marshall Plan” for spreading its hegemony. Bangladesh officially became a part of this herculean project in 2016 with high hopes and the belief that it would open up a window of opportunities. Being one of the signatories of sustainable development goals (SDGs), Bangladesh is committed to achieve sustainable development and integrate those global goals into its national plans and policies. As the country will soon graduate from the least developed country (LDC), funding from western allies will dry up in the near future. And so materializing those goals and continuing its robust economic growth and pace of socio-economic development might get halted if the necessary financial backing is not ensured. It is expected that a supplementary source of financing will come from various projects related to BRI which would further lead to infrastructural development both at land and sea routes in Bangladesh. The positive externality and trickle-down effect of those efforts would mean more employment generation, sustained economic growth, bridging the trade deficit with China along other socio-economic benefits. This qualitative study drawing information from secondary sources argues that albeit BRI can turn out to be a blessing for Bangladesh; however, it will have to negotiate multiple challenges which include- high rate of interest while borrowing leading to debt-trap; non-involvement of another Asian giant, India in BRI; environmental degradation; not well developed financial system and weak governance system leading to grand corruptions; threat for sovereignty, etc. Hence, the study makes a modest suggestion that the Bangladeshi policymakers need to be extra cautious and strategic before making any deals related to BRI projects considering the sensitivity of the issue