BANGLADESH INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL AND STRATEGIC STUDIES

FOUR DECADES OF BANGLADESH-SOUTH KOREA RELATIONS: ECONOMIC DIMENSIONS

Author: Mahfuz Kabir

DOI Link: https://www.doi.org/10.56888/BIISSj2013v34n2a1

ABSTRACT

South Korea has been a significant trading and development partner of Bangladesh for quite long time. This year both the countries are celebrating the fortieth anniversary of their bilateral relations. Bangladesh imports considerable volume of raw materials and intermediate goods along with capital and consumer items from South Korea. Currently, Bangladesh is getting significant amount of development assistance, and investment from the country. This paper analyses the economic aspects of bilateral relations, viz. commodity-specific trade, investment from South Korea by sector, and trend and salient features of official development assistance by category from Bangladesh perspective. The paper reveals that there is a substantial unrealised potential of export to South Korea, which should be tapped through institutional measures but sensitive sectors like textiles and apparels should be kept aside to derive desired benefits from bilateral free trade area. There is also scope for Bangladesh to attract South Korean grants for financing development projects and strengthen cooperation in industrial development, science and technology, and human resource development.