The UK and Bangladesh
Bangladesh's relations with the UK
The UK and Bangladesh share a special, long-standing and deep friendship and a vast array of common interests.
People-to-people links lie at the heart of this relationship: their personal and familial ties, their values and their futures. The most obvious examples of this exist among the near half a million British nationals of Bangladeshi origin – a community renowned for its fusion of cultures and its impact on the nation’s culinary tastes, but whose contributions to UK society are visible in every sphere: government, politics, business, law, innovations and technology, education.
In Bangladesh, the contribution of the British Council in cultural exchange, teaching and English language learning has enhanced these personal contacts. Many thousands of Bangladeshis also come to the UK to visit family, to study, travel and conduct business.
The UK continues to be one of the largest investors in Bangladesh, a strategic player, a major employer across many sectors, and a key market for Bangladeshi exports. UK companies are taking a lead in making Corporate Social Responsibility work in Bangladesh, which is good for business and good for improving working conditions.
Development is an area of major partnership with Bangladesh. The UK’s Department for International Development has the largest bilateral aid programme in Bangladesh (currently around £120 million a year) and is exploring opportunities to scale up its contribution significantly over the longer term. The UK has a commitment to working in partnership with Bangladesh to achieve its Millennium Development Goals and to lift millions out of poverty for good, with programmes in the areas of governance, livelihoods, private sector reform, health, education and climate change.
Britain and Bangladesh, sadly, have both known the horrors of indiscriminate terrorist violence. Therefore the UK has committed to working together with Bangladesh to counter the threat through building the capacity for pursuing terrorists and protecting against attack, and also through addressing the root causes of extremism.
The UK is also looking to support Bangladeshi leadership in key international institutions, for example in the latter’s role as a major provider of UN peace-keeping forces and in multilateral bodies responsible for climate change negotiations.
