Experts berate Nigeria for failure to develop productive economy

url (http://www.businessdayonline.com/?c=44&a=15203)

Nigeria, being one of the most common undeveloped countries has resulted into economic downturn, poverty and degradation of citizens to subjects. There was no good synergy between Nigeria's foreign policy engagements such as international peacekeeping opersations and its pathway for Africa and the domestic environment, which Nigeria has been experiencing inconsistent economic cycles (poverty --> boom --> decline). There was no signs of re-establishment of an economy, which also resulted in low savings and investments. Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NILA) conference believed it is crucial to build a synergy between its foreign policy and domestic environment in order to address the economic issues and the restoration of true citizenship. They wanted the government to strengthen the educational system.

UK Provides 2.5 mln USD aid for Bangladesh flood victims

url: (http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-08/02/content_6463288.htm)

It is surprising that the United Kingdom lend a hand to Bangladesh during the horrible flood seasons like India, which supplied more than thousands kilograms of rice, wheat, milk powder, and now UK is offering 2.5 million USD to help the victims of the flood, which will be mostly spent on food, water, shelter, and medicines. It is fortunate to know that Bangladesh, being the least undeveloped country is receiving lots of help from stronger nations.

For your Enjoyment: English Russia

http://www.englishrussia.com/
I read this news all the time. It's mostly photography. I love how Russia is set up. So unique, bizarre, and wicked! I've always suspected that Russia has very eccentric ideas and the way they display their pride.

All pictures are at www.englishrussia.com copyrighted.

Watch Tower: Modernization of Indian Madarsas

url: (http://www.centralchronicle.com/20070801/0108304.htm)


The article focused mainly on the modernization of the Indian Madarsas, that adopt the path of fundamentalism--a division between Muslims and Non-Muslims. I really had no clue about the Islamic or Muslim education or how their educational or religious systems actually work and this is why I am so eager to learn about the Indian Mardarsas. I was surprised that the registered madarsas are required to fill out the report about activities and education to both the students and the Registar annually, and how they are prohibited to teach or publish any literatures pertaining to terrorism or Islamic groupism. Due to the economic status, the madarsa focuses mainly on the education, which allows the parents getting their wards to have no control over children to be admitted to a good school. The rise of the Islamic Mardarsas has served in the age of globalization and the starting era of Islam religion, and it offered religious education (also known as limited education) to children. Now the governments of Pakistan and India are trying to figure out how to better the educational and religious systems of Indian Mardarsas, by improving the syllabus and educational standards of the Muslims. They want to see the equality between the level of education fo Muslims and the national rate of education. But the orthodox Muslim leaders believed that the system is being accused of starting extremist thoughts along with anti-humanitarian goals.

Brown seeks urgent action against poverty

url (http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/brown-seeks-urgent-action-against-poverty/2007/08/01/1185647976008.html)

The eight millenium development goals (MDGs) that UN set up mentioned in the other articles I've wrote about totally reminded me of this current article I am reading now. I did not think it was feasible for an undeveloped country like Bangladesh to become fully developed or achieving all these eight goals by the deadline of 2015 because it appears that it would take lots of time to make that happen, and possibly a lot of support from developed countries. I think it's too fast to start changing everything that was held traditional in that country and the goals that UN has set the date of 2015 is completely illusional to me. It's important to take the process slowly that way, we can repair the unforseen mistakes at a time regardless of the deadline.

In this article, the British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown made an immediate move known as a "moral crusade" by contacting all the international world leaders to take "emergency action" to ensure that the undeveloped countries will meet the MDGs by 2015. This agreement was made in 2000, which occured seven years ago. Brown said it is an emergency and it is urgent to meet those goals, and I feel that the way he described how urgent and important to make this happen, is making everyone else across the globe nervous and anxious or even worried! I strongly believe it is too quick to start changing and improving the country within eight more years. Brown mentioned that the goal of halving infant mortality wouldn't be met until 2050 unless "urgent action" was taken. So now he wanted everyone such as governments, businesspeople, religious groups and even regular ordinary people to get involved in this ranging alliance to help make this happen, to ensure the world will meet its goals by that deadline. It sounds like he is very impatient since there are slow or no progress or whatsoever in some of the undeveloped countries like Bangladesh. Why should we be rushed to do so?

Half of Bangladesh still underwater

url: (http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/9A61DE8A-C815-4F2E-B2B4-9F417D55FBBC.htm )

Half the country of Bangladesh was flooded where five million people were stranded and so far eleven people especially children have completely drowned. The situation in Bangladesh has gotten worse and worse since floods have approached quickly. The Bangladesh flood forecasting and warning centre stated that the situation will be resolved within a few days. People in neighboring India have been stranded from their villages due to monsoon drenches and more than half a million people have been stranded in more than 30 districts of the low-lying country. There are signs of shortages of food and water and medicine for the relief camps, and there aren’t enough boats to rescue people from the floods or stranded locations. It appears that the country of Bangladesh especially the neighboring countries have very weak medical supplies and they are in need of greater medical attention. I am surprised that there aren’t enough boats in the county since I always realized India and other neighboring countries use boats for trading/marketing, but I guess they did not have enough boats. It is depressing to see an undeveloped country in the worst situation as compared to the other undeveloped countries, though I just hope that the situation will alleviate as soon as possible and it still has goals to reach a stronger economy and to be developed as well.

India offers food aid to Bangladesh

url (http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/001200707310341.htm )

There are a quite numerous news regarding the devastating flooding situation in Bangladesh and how the country has been receiving generous offers from India so far. I am really impressed with the hard work that India helped out such as offering 40,000 tonnes of rice to the country, that's like 40,000 x 1000 kg = 40000000 kg of rice! That's a lot of rice! They also supply Bangladesh 10,000 tonnes of wheat and 1,000 tones of milk powder. It's amazing how the food production is very rich in India and how much they can sacrifice to another undeveloped country like Bangladesh. I already can envision a very strong relationship between India and Bangladesh, which India was currently experiencing and enduring the same issues such as poverty, overpopulation, etc. This is such an impressive news I've ever heard so far!

Into Africa

url (http://www.economist.com/finance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9566441 )

The biggest undeveloped country of Africa is soon approaching its goal to integrate into the global economy with lots of natural resources and potential for the future however the investors are not ready to associate with Africa due to its extreme political turmoils. Currently the markets in Africa are undeveloped with a slight chance to be successful, but the country itself is progressing more quickly as ever. I'm surprised about the fact that the adoption of mobile phones have been used by farmers for use of markets and this is pretty neat.

FDI from Bangladesh to get clearance this year: Ramesh

url ( http://www.newkerala.com/july.php?action=fullnews&id=49943 )

Why did India refuse to allow Foreign Directed Investment (FDI) from Bangladesh and Pakistan for only security reasons and then allow FDI to be from Bangladesh within this year? What's the difference? I am shocked how within this year from 2006 to 2007, the India's export claimed to be 1.7 billion dollars to Bangladesh while Bangladeshi share was approximately 250 million dollars. That's a lot of money in the huge trade imbalance, and it's amazing.

U.S. President Welcomes Election Roadmap In Bangladesh

url (http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7008021014)


I was not very fond of U.S. President George W. Bush and these several years he was elected after Democrats have met their failure in election. I have retired from listening, reading, and debating politics against the Republicans and have been a strong supporter for the Liberal Democrats in my early high school years. It was not a pretty moment. The news mentioned that the U.S. President wished the Bangladeshi government luck to hold the elections in 2008, well, in fact, after reading the first article on how the former Foreign minister has been receiving threats for many years prior to holding election in the upcoming year of 2008 and how high the number of politicans have been arrested by the cops lately and the crazy number of political rivals that have been going on in Bangladesh, well yes, seriously, this country needs help. I don't think anyone can make it to the election in 2008 while there are crazy political rivals going against each other, and wishing every one of them may have a chance to take over and make rules. I am hoping the U.S. can do whatever it can to help protect the politicans as well as making the election go smooth without any serious threats or even absurd acts of terrorism that may occur, and I am hoping the U.S. will not involve itself in the election in terms of past conspiracy of Bush Administration. In fact, the U.S. and Bangladesh do have close economic and commercial relations while most American companies are currently acive in Bangladesh and the U.S. is a major export destination as well as the largest investor for most of the products from Bangladesh. So far, the U.S. President mentioned that he will support Bangladesh's efforts to combat corruption and "collect taxes", and how they will be sharing democratic values and commited to working together to strengthen a parternship for economic development as well as to fight terrorism. The goal of the U.S. is to restore the foundations of Bangladesh economy.

China Regional Hegemon or Benefactor?

url(http://newsblaze.com/story/20070727063136rahu.nb/newsblaze/OPINIONS/Opinions.html)


It is quite bizarre of me to choose a news with a headline titled, China, when I am supposed to be focusing on Bangladesh, but there are some facts related to development that may assist my understanding and knowledge in my assigned country. Since China has very well publicized relations with Pakistan, and some really bad relations with the Southern countries, but for Bangladesh, it was only a "carefully calibrated relationship". China expressed great concerns over developments in Bangladesh and also hoped that this country could be peaceful, stabilized, and developed. Even the new Chinese ambassador claimed that he could envision that country could develop with great potential due to its large potential market with overpopulation and cheap skilled labor and China is still interested in trading and investment with Bangladesh. It appears that China has so many things to reform the country to be developed in a certain way such as a direct road link in order to improve trade from southern province of Hunan and an access to sea trade. It's very generous of China to support Bangladesh, but I am wondering why is China not being friendly with the Southern provinces--or why is China becoming philanthropic all of the sudden? Was it trying to become powerful by increasing its presence across the globe or "politic of undercutting influence of other larger powers of India or USA"? I would have to admit that maybe China can be a great benefactor for the developing world as well as for the sake of Bangladesh, yet it is important for other countries like USA or India to look after China and make sure it does not mess up the traditional economies or values.

Bangladesh can become middle income country by 2016, says WB

url (http://www.thedailystar.net/2007/07/27/d7072701129.htm)

I first came across this Daily Star news today and realized that the title was very appealing to me since I knew most undeveloped countries as well as the least undeveloped country like Bangladesh have to meet the MDGs goals by 2015 according to the UN and now the World Bank claimed that Bangladesh can become a middle income country by 2016. That's another challenging goal for such an undeveloped country and yet they still have to achieve the MDGs goals as well. The World Bank believed that "Bangladesh can develop into a middle-income country by 2016 if liberalise trade further, increase energy prices, privatise selected state-owned enterprises, and maintain its past record of economy stability." The previous article I have also read also mentioned the same guy, a finance adviser Azizul Islam who talked about how Bangladesh needs to be a secular and peaceful country with a stable and capable government. Islam warned about the greater unemployment and finanicial/food insecurity and the government is trying to plan out the ideas to sustain growth of the country. The WB Country Director Xian-Zhu assumed that Bangladesh can be a middle-income country by 2016 if the GDP growth goes up to a sustained rate of 7.5 per cent, and in order to do that, with Bangladesh's capable rapid growth, it converts to labor-intensive manufacturing from agriculture, introduces major urban centres with growth potential, and integration with international markets. But the bad news is that the political implications from rising inflation may hurt fixed income groups by losing a lot of money and if the policy of crop-diversification towards high-yield crops is still used, the food insecurity in Bangladesh will most likely to increase. GDP is one of the explained broad definition of development as discussed in class; it is the first and most common one, which is identified by the gross domestic product or the gross national product per capita. GDP is all the products/all the production that's done in one country for a year.

Another former finance adviser Akbar Ali Khan warned that the country of Bangladesh needs policies towards increasing employments and have their traditional issues to be looked after. After reading the goals, back-ups, and implemented recommendations for the undeveloped country of Bangladesh, I always ponder if this country can both achieve MDG goals and become a middle-income country at the same time regardless of the deadline? It appears that there is an issue of creating jobs in the country as well as the food insecurity. I am hoping that, with the help and advices of these finance advisers, that they would work to meet that deadline. If that is true that Bangladesh is capable of rapid growth, then it may be feasible it can increase its GDP, but I cannot envision that happening by exactly 2016, I mean there can be more political, environmental, equity, development, and social strifes in the later years which can disrupt the country's smooth progression to join the MICs. I just cannot envision its progression to middle-income country status by that deadline. World Bank cannot just claim the country's past growth/fall out history in the 1980s when its average growth falls to the 3% rate, and estimate that dream of becoming a middle-income country will be met in the another 5 decades. Do you think the World Bank's proposed middle-income strategy is a bit difficult to envision--have you ever thought about the effects to that country if that happens--such as threatening to weaken the social and environmental standards?

Ensure duty-free market access for Dhaka to achieve MDGs

(url) http://www.thedailystar.net/2007/07/26/d70726050157.htm

The United Nations (UN) set up the MDGs, which are called millennium development goals. They are designed to commit their nations to a new global partnership to decrease poverty, and to promote gender equality, education, and environment sustainability before the deadline of 2015. There are eight main goals that the UN made as indicated in the website: (http://www.unmillenniumproject.org/goals/index.htm)

Goal 1: Eradicate Extreme Hunger and Poverty
Goal 2: Achieve Universal Primary Education
Goal 3: Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women
Goal 4: Reduce Child Mortality
Goal 5: Improve Maternal Health
Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other diseases
Goal 7: Ensure Environmental Sustainability
Goal 8: Develop a Global Partnership for Development

There are some countries that are having slow or no progress at all on those goals and there has been recent cases on "persistent inequalities undermining progress on others" such as Latin America, the Middle East, and North Africa.

According to The Daily Star news article, the finance and planning adviser, Mirza Azizul Islam wanted to encourage the developed nations to "ensure duty and quota free market access" to the least developed countries such as Bangladesh in order to meet the MDGs goals because it's one of the least underdeveloped countries today and it needs extreme support to achieve that goal by 2015 otherwise its commitment to the global partners will not be honored. I just don't understand why the UN needs to achieve that goals by 2015, don't you think it's impossible to make that happen since most undeveloped countries like Bangladesh are seriously under crisis and how the terrorism has arise so quickly and expanding from Middle East to Europe? Why 2015? I've always ponder why. These MDGs goals remind me of three little wishes or the best dreams a country can have. It's so unrealistic to me.

Ramesh's Comments on Political Situation out of Place: Bangla

(url)http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Rest_of_World/Rameshs_comments_on_political_situation_out_of_place_Bangla/articleshow/2232384.cms
25 Jul 2007, 1148 hrs IST,PTI

The Indian state minister for commerce, Jairam Ramesh stated that the country of Bangladesh's political situation is completely out of control and it needs to organize its political system somehow. The Bangladesh Foreign Ministry truly believed that the country of Bangladesh should be a "secular, democratic, and peaceful country.", but the New Delhi wanted to see that happen with "government that is chosen by its people in a free, fair, and credible election." However, Ramesh stated that diversity is the most important thing for a secular country like this. After the previous article I've read about the former Prime Minister of Bangladesh, it appears that there are so many cases that are involved with political wars, or something that have to do with getting in elections so badly. And the military emergency government has gone out of control, making so many arrests on the politicans and other higher standing positions in Bangladesh and accusations after attempted investigations. I think Bangladesh needs help on settling political issues and to maintain the political parties from getting out of control before all goes to corruption again! Seriously, what I have read from the articles and everywhere across the globe, there are so many political rival activism going on that involve killings and terrorism, and mostly fighting. It would be truly a wonderful goal by trying to create a peaceful and secular Bangladesh, but it would be difficult since there has been many recent cases of corruptions.

** Bangladesh ex-PM formally charged **

(url) http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/6913480.stm

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman played an important role in pre-Independence India and became a very well known Prime Minister and the first President of Bangladesh by introducing a government and leading Bangladesh to independence from Pakistan in 1971. After he was killed, his daughter Skeikh Hasina took over, but now she's a former Bangladeshi Prime minister. But this January, the military emergency government has taken control in Bangladesh to fight corruption, but I think this new situation has gotten out of control for now. There are a few cases against her regarding an electricity contract, having her rights violated, military domination, and struggles with the police. It seems that her rights have been violated since the police did not present an arrest warrant before going into her home. Hasina was taken to court without a summons without here. Her secretary Mahmud mentioned that her personal rights are completely violated and all the circumstances of her arrest were unlawful and unequal. There's a case against Hasina regarding a "payment she allegedly received for an electricity contract issued during her period in office 8 years ago, when her, and her sister and cousin are named in court papers as receiving thousands of dollars." Hasina argued that she was being accused intentionally for political motivation and blockade from getting in elections in the future. There are other cases in relation to extortion and the killings of four political rivals, which I believe may have angered the police and encouraged them to investigate her more deeply. This is such a big corruption going on after Bangladesh's independence from Pakistan, and now I ponder why this former Prime Minister is being backstabbed by the police and I suspect that some of her rivals or enemies are trying to set her up so she can't stand in future elections, which they are held before the end of 2008. I am amazed about the number of arrests made on politicians, civil servants, and businessmen, it's like more than a hundred fifty.

My First Post

This is the blog designed for Intl 240 to voice concerns and opinions over domestic and international news regarding the undeveloped country of Bangladesh. My assignment is to start looking at different development concerns in my country, as well as some in-depth analysis of what is keeping that country from becoming developed. Go Bangladesh!!

-Ms. Huang