Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Saturday inaugurated the permanent secretariat of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) in Dhaka. The BIMSTEC, initiated to connect South Asian and Southeast Asian countries, comprises Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand, Xinhua reported. During the 13^th BIMSTEC ministerial meeting held in Nay Pyi Taw in Myanmar in 2011, it was unanimously decided that the secretariat would be set up in Bangla...

More than 200 garment factories have shut down in Bangladesh since the country’s worst industrial disaster prompted a massive clean-up of the world’s second-largest textile sector, an industry group said Thursday. The closures have cost tens of thousands of jobs and led to a fall in exports, raising worries about the $24.5 billion industry—the key economic mainstay for the impoverished nation of 155 million people, reports AFP. The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), which represents 4,500 factories and compiled the figures, said the industry was going through a painful transitio...

Despite the absence of movement from the Indian side on key bilateral issues, Bangladesh has said it is ‘patient, understands India’s constraints, and is hopeful of positive results’. Dhaka has also signalled that it is at ease with the Narendra Modi government, while urging sections not to ‘whip up emotive frenzy’ over the immigration issue. The two countries have a Joint Consultative Commission meeting on September 20. In an exclusive interview to HT, Bangladesh’s high commissioner to India, Tariq A Karim admitted that prior to the Indian el...