Assessing Bangladesh’s Prospects with Southeast Asia in the Areas of Rare Earth Elements and Port Connectivity

This paper analyses Bangladesh’s prospects for strengthening and diversifying its engagement with Southeast Asian countries in two emerging sectors, namely Rare Earth Elements (REEs) and port connectivity. The paper envisions the need to explore new areas of cooperation beyond traditional domains of engagement such as trade, labour migration, and tourism. Given the evolving geopolitical and economic realities, the paper argues the need to explore new domains where enhanced economic resilience, supply-chain security, and sustainable development are possible. Collecting data from both primary and secondary sources, the study examines the comparative strengths of the Southeast Asian countries in the REE and port connectivity. The findings of the study specify that Southeast Asia has great potential for Bangladesh in terms of access to key mineral supply chains, technology transfer, human resource development, improved port management practices and regional level maritime transportation networks. Furthermore, the paper outlines several challenges such as institutional and technological restrictions, fragmented regional REE chains, infrastructure gaps, digitalisation gaps and environmental governance issues. In response, the paper suggests several policy pathways, including strengthening institutional capacity, technological modernisation, and improving regulatory aspects to achieve sustainable cooperation in the fields of REE and port connectivity with the countries of Southeast Asia.