New Delhi, Sep 12 (SocialNews.XYZ) The 18th BRICS Leaders’ Summit underway in New Delhi has found considerable interest in Bangladesh with its media discussing its relevance and influence as a platform for the Global South, with a somewhat mixed reaction on Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s decision to skip it.
BRICS is the acronym for the grouping with Brazil, Russia, India, and China being founding members, and South Africa joining later, with the nations representing over 40 per cent of the world’s population and nearly a quarter of global GDP. It now comprises 11 countries, including Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. In 2025, nations like Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Uganda, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam joined as Partner Countries.
Though Bangladesh is not a member-state, the Prime Minister was invited as the current Chairperson of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), a regional organisation of seven South and Southeast Asian countries aimed at promoting economic, technical, and strategic cooperation around the Bay of Bengal.
Quoting former Ambassador to the United States, M. Humayun Kabir, Bangladesh Pratidin on Saturday said that the BRICS Summit is an important international event and it would have been “good” if the Prime Minister could attend. Attending the New Delhi Summit would have provided an opportunity to personally connect with leaders from other countries, he reportedly opined, adding that though Bangladesh would have remained on the sidelines of the Summit, Dhaka could still have spoken with them on topics relevant to its interests.
At the same time, the report emphasised that many international relations analysts believe that Bangladesh is not diplomatically or economically harmed by not attending the event.
Commentators told the newspaper that Prime Minister Rahman has already held bilateral meetings with China's President Xi Jinping and Malaysia's Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.
Meeting world leaders on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit is not a major diplomatic or political achievement for Bangladesh, as Rahman will also visit several other important countries where he will have bilateral meetings, they added.
Incidentally, in October 2016, then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had participated in the BRICS-BIMSTEC Outreach Summit in Goa.
This year, ASEAN Chairman and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, African Union President Evariste Ndayishimiye of Burundi, President of the Latin American bloc, Uruguay’s Mario Lubetkin, and Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev representing Euro-Asian cooperation, are among participants.
None of them is a BRICS member.
Among other international figures attending are UN Secretary-General António Guterres, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, and WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.
Writing in detail about the event, the Bangladesh Business Standard mentioned on Saturday: "Bangladeshi Prime Minister Tarique Rahman was invited as the current chairman of BIMSTEC……, but did not attend".
The report concluded by pointing to some inherent issues, saying the “New Delhi summit will therefore test whether the expanded group can translate its growing economic weight into practical cooperation while managing those differences”.
Pointing to the broader objectives of BRICS, popular Bengali daily Prothom Alo on Saturday stressed the importance of the grouping for Bangladesh as “multi-dimensional”. Stating that Bangladesh's development requires massive infrastructure financing, it mentioned that the country is already a member of the New Development Bank since 2021, which the newspaper identified as "One of the most important institutional achievements of BRICS".
According to it, by the end of 2025, the bank's approved financing for Bangladesh has reached about $450 million. Thus, Dhaka's relationship with BRICS is not just a matter of political interest; "A viable financial base has already been laid for this," it said.
It also elaborated on the scope for economic diplomacy, especially with China and India being two very important economic partners of Bangladesh and also on the scope for further expansion of trade relations with countries like Brazil, South Africa, and Indonesia.
Overall, the article stressed how BRICS can be an additional diplomatic and economic instrument in that transition phase.
However, it also mentioned the diversities within BRICS, asserting that how much integrated the grouping “will become a political force is still undetermined”, stressing that membership itself is not a guarantee of economic success.
Though Dhaka has framed Rahman skipping the Summit on account of the invitation being as BIMSTEC Chair and not Bangladesh’s Prime Minister, there were statements criticising Sheikh Hasina’s media interaction while in exile.
The government is under pressure on certain issues and alignments. It had sought Hasina’s immediate extradition despite the former Premier announcing her intent of returning this December. Hasina faces a death sentence, with reports saying she will face execution upon return, with no chance to appeal. Meanwhile, her party, the Awami League, faces a ban.
Source: IANS
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