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I don't really see how Bangladesh could be a major global Muslim political and financial force aside from it's having a huge population and cheap labor. And how it could be put in ranks together with Qatar, UAE, Pakistan, etc. Enlighten me.
The topic itself is divisive by its very nature. It pits one Muslim country against another. The resulting arguments may create lots of venom. For this reason, discussions of such nature are not praiseworthy.
1. Bangladesh may have slipped past the radars of ignorant members because it has no Muslim country adjoining it, it's not often in the news for some random bombing, drone attack, war, mayhem or violence. That should, in reality, create an enabling environment for it to progress faster, and stake its rightful claim in the world as a major power in the coming decades, one can hope.
2. Of the OIC members, Bangladesh has the third highest number of Muslims in it after Indonesia and Pakistan, respectively. Indonesia is a staunchly secular country where the people and the government are mostly secular, in nature. Pakistan is a self-proclaimed Islamic country, on paper only, but no shred of Islamic law is enforced while there remains a wide gap - a gulf - separating the aspirations of the silent majority and the tiny ruling aristocracy which indulge in all sorts of un Islamic activities. Bangladesh is different in that its people are not secular if you consider secularism to mean the people want to get rid of religion or abhor religion, or to deny religion its due place in society as per religious edicts, but Bangladesh is secular if you go by the words of a small clique of sold out politicians and minions of foreign countries who implement the agenda of those foreign countries.
3. Accurate data or information on a variety of countries from around the world is hard to obtain, and whatever little data or information that institutions like the IMF may release in the public domain is also fraught with its own personal biases and driven by its ulterior motives. Even so, a quick look at largest economies amongst the OIC member states in 2011 or 2012 (only projected data is available for 2012, because as of December the 18th, 2012, no official information on the GDP of OIC countries for 2012 has been released).
The list of top 20 economies, as measured by GDP PPP, for 2011 and for 2012 and based on data from IMF World Economic Outlook October 2012 dataset, are shown below:
No information on the GDP of Somalia and Palestine was available in that database, and due to the ongoing crisis in Syria, recent years have witnessed blank entries for Syria in that database.
Interestingly, the IMF, and other Western institutions downgraded Bangladesh's GDP PPP for some inexplicable reason by a considerable percentage. Prior to this unexplained downward move, Bangladesh's GDP was almost the same as that of Pakistan and would have surpassed that of Pakistan by today in all OFFICIAL accounts.
Take a look at the following dataset from October 2012 WEO:
Country Subject Descriptor Units Scale Country/Series-specific Notes 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Bangladesh Gross domestic product based on purchasing-power-parity (PPP) valuation of country GDP Current international dollar Billions 158.475 173.643 190.951 208.881 226.237 241.696 260.596 283.469 305.513 328.501
Pakistan Gross domestic product based on purchasing-power-parity (PPP) valuation of country GDP Current international dollar Billions 311.738 340.301 371.736 408.590 433.042 444.339 464.082 488.372 514.559 538.372
Notes
Country Subject Descriptor Units Scale Country/Series-specific Notes 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Bangladesh Gross domestic product based on purchasing-power-parity (PPP) valuation of country GDP Current international dollar Billions 276.074 302.956 332.497 360.965 389.417
Pakistan Gross domestic product based on purchasing-power-parity (PPP) valuation of country GDP Current international dollar Billions 347.899 386.678 426.489 465.416 504.269
As you can see, Bangladesh is easily amongst the top 10 OIC economies even after an arbitrary, partisan act of downgrade of the estimate of its economic output by institutions like the IMF. Without such an arbitrary downgrade, Bangladesh would be easily amongst the top 5 OIC economies, as you can see from the tiny dataset presented above.
Furthermore, Bangladesh is the second largest apparel exporting country in the world behind only the People's Republic of China.
At the same time, the country turned into the world's second largest apparel supplier, after China
3. There exists only seven OIC member countries with a megacity within its borders. These are Indonesia, Bangladesh, Iran, Turkey, Egypt, Pakistan and Nigeria. A megacity is usually defined as a city with 10 million or more people within its borders. Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, is only one of seven megacities in the OIC.
4. At the United Nations, Bangladesh has been consistently represented as one of the top contributing countries for peacekeepers. See statistics below:
Of the 11 completed months of calendar year 2012 so far, Bangladesh has been the single largest contributor in six of these months, and the second largest contributor in five of these months.
5. There were more than 98 million mobile phone subscribers, and more than 29 million Internet users in Bangladesh as of October 2012, and July 2012, respectively.
The total number of Mobile Phone subscribers has reached 98.293 million at the end of October 2012
Quote:
Internet Subscribers in Bangladesh
The total number of Internet Subscribers has reached 29,415.693 thousand at the end of July 2012.
Most of the countries listed amongst the top 10 by various member do not even have as many people.
6. With a slightly smaller population than Pakistan, with much fewer natural resources and a 24 year delay in gaining independence, the total banking assets of the Islamic Banks in Bangladesh stand ahead of that of Pakistan.
As of 30 September, 2012 (Un-Audited) Amount in Taka Total Property and Assets 455.530,741,707
At an exchange rate of about 82 Taka to 1 US$, the assets of IBBL (only one Islamic bank in Bangladesh) stands at about US$5.56 billion, in contrast to US$6.2 billion Islamic banking assets for the entire Islamic banking industry in Pakistan.
Pakistan Islamic banking assets hit $6.2 billion
A State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) official has revealed that total Islamic banking deposits in Pakistan now stand at PKR $463 billion ($5 billion), while total Islamic banking assets have hit PKR 568 ($6.2 billion), with the sector witnessing a growth of 30 per cent.
While Islamic countries like Iran, and Malaysia or the GCC's Islamic banking sectors are much stronger than that of nascent Bangladeshi or Pakistani Islamic Banking sector, there is no doubt that Bangladesh is ahead of Pakistan in this regard.
7. The majority of the world's people consume either rice, wheat or maize. Rice is the staple food of the majority or plurality of the world's population. Bangladesh is the fourth largest rice producing country in the world, and the second largest rice producing country amongst OIC members.
Bangladesh is the fourth largest producer in the world of rice bran, milled & paddy, goat skins & fat.
8. Only recently has Bangladesh ventured into shipbuilding and already bagged orders for a few hundred million dollars worth of oceangoing ships from Germany and other countries. This sector holds considerable potential for the Bangladesh economy.
9. Bangladesh is one of the handful, if not only, country in the OIC which is not neighboured by a single Muslim majority country, which has been usually neglected or overlooked by most Muslim countries due to their ignorance or bias, which has defeated a non-Muslim country in a conventional conflict in the 'modern' time (in the last 100 years, suppose), while not plagued with murder, bombing, drone attacks, and violence ,in general, related to confessional discrepancies.
10. Bangladesh is one of the handful, if not only, country in the OIC to have no considerable mineral/energy resources unlike the Middle East, Central Asia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei or Nigeria, nor does it have the mineral/coal/other natural resources reserves of Pakistan, for example, nor does it have a single patch of desert unlike most of the OIC countries. Also, unlike countries like Turkey, or recently Albania, Bangladesh has not been treated extremely favourably to the extent that it has been granted membership of some Western 'club' like the EU, NATO or granted associate/observer status there.
11. Thus, in view of the above 10 points amongst a list of hundreds of such points that could be listed, it is fair to say that irrespective of which other countries are dropped or excluded from the list of top 10 important Muslim country, Bangladesh MUST gain a place there in any objective, unbiased and well informed person's mind, without considering any of the possible outlooks of Bangladesh economy in the near to mid term future based on its potential to reap dividends from its young demographics, high constant growth rates in excess of 5.5% to 6.5%+ continuing for more than a decade and a potential to raise this growth rate further, burgeoning and growing middle classes purchasing consumer appliances by the millions from foreign and local manufacturers (like Walton Bangladesh), spending their money in Bashundhara City Shopping Centre (the largest shopping centre in South Asia at the moment) or any of the other hundreds of shopping centres, department stores, glitzy foreign and domestic outlets dotted around the country but disproportionately concentrated in urban centres like Dhaka, Chittagong, Sylhet, Rajshahi, and elsewhere, or likely to spend their money in Jamuna Future Park shopping centre which is touted by the developer as the 3rd/4th largest shopping centre in the world, but estimated to be amongst the top 15 shopping centres in the world by any measure by outside observers in any case.
12. Economic power, rising massive intellectual, political, military, scientific, industrial, technological, diplomatic and soft power clout naturally means that Bangladesh is a sure choice for any such list.
Thanks to all respectable members for taking the time to read the argument thoroughly, with respect and with care.
Pakistan-
Indonesia
UAE
Saudi Arabia
Sudan
Nigeria
Iran
Turkey
Iraq
Egypt
Most of these countries on here simply because of their large energy sources, while others on here for their economic superiority, population, or have a large military power.
UAE, saudi arabia, Iraq, Nigeria and Sudan all have huge energy reserves and probably supply the world with half of our oil and electricty. Turkey, Egypt and Iran are relatively stable countries economically and supply the world with some oil. Pakistan's main importance is its military and its nuclear power and indonesia is a growing superpower.
Pakistan-
Indonesia
UAE
Saudi Arabia
Sudan
Nigeria
Iran
Turkey
Iraq
Egypt
Most of these countries on here simply because of their large energy sources, while others on here for their economic superiority, population, or have a large military power.
UAE, saudi arabia, Iraq, Nigeria and Sudan all have huge energy reserves and probably supply the world with half of our oil and electricty. Turkey, Egypt and Iran are relatively stable countries economically and supply the world with some oil. Pakistan's main importance is its military and its nuclear power and indonesia is a growing superpower.
1. It is entirely your opinion based on what ever little information you have gleaned from the internet and elsewhere, and I have no issues with it. Let's hope merely providing some facts from my own side will not hurt you.
2. Pakistan's military surrendered unconditionally, repeat: unconditionally, in 1971 against Bangladeshi civilians, repeat:CIVILIANS, not even professional armed troops. They may be considered 'good' or 'capable' in the incompetent Middle East, but most of the rest of the world would 'wipe the floor' with them in 'no time'. Their only worthy opponent is another incompetent military like India.
That is exactly the reason Pakistan bent down on its knees, figuratively speaking, the moment United States threatened it in 2001. Iran has not done that. Ergo, Pakistan's military may impress uninformed amateurs or some incompetent Middle Easterners, but no serious enthusiast let alone any well informed professional would award it with any critical acclaim.
3. Turkey and Egypt import most/all of their oil.
4. Your list not only excludes Bangladesh but also Malaysia, so I am glad that it is your ignorance that affects the list, but not my personal nationalistic bias to see Bangladesh in its rightful position that affects my judgement. Considering the scientific, industrial, economic and political achievements of Malaysia or even tiny Brunei, if some of the countries like Pakistan or others that I would not name can find a place in your list, I am very glad that Bangladesh is not grouped together with Pakistan but left out just the way Malaysia has also been left out in your personal list.
5. Pakistan's nuclear weapons, like Israel or India's weapons, are low-yield, backward and mostly inefficient nuclear designs. They can threaten only the most primitive Middle Eastern or Indian societies or capitals with these designs but when USA, or even Russia or China in any hypothetical situation, would threaten them, they would fold before the blink of an eye, and so did Pakistan in 2001.
6. Pakistan's annual steel production is merely 0.4 million tonne.
Some of its notable features include gravity sensor, proximity sensor, motion sensor, light sensor, Dual SIM capability (WCDMA and GSM), amongst others.
Pakistan probably does not even have more than two domestic mobile phone manufacturers. Introducing new models with proximity sensor, gravity sensor, motion sensor and light sensor is beyond their minuscule capabilities.
8. One could list hundreds of similar 'achievements' in which Bangladesh outdoes Pakistan by a massive margin.
Pakistan's military... They may be considered 'good' or 'capable' in the incompetent Middle East, but most of the rest of the world would 'wipe the floor' with them in 'no time'. Their only worthy opponent is another incompetent military like India.
Pakistan's nuclear weapons, like Israel or India's weapons, are low-yield, backward and mostly inefficient nuclear designs. They can threaten only the most primitive Middle Eastern or Indian societies or capitals with these designs
Nuclear Weapons:
Pakistan and India = 200-220
Rest of the world (NOT USA, Russia, France, UK, China, Israel, North Korea, Iran) = 0
Yea, I thought about ranking it just by the overall population, but I think Bangladesh's lack of prominence in the news save for crippling poverty and natural disasters. It also has relatively small influence on global politics because it's not in too big of a political hotspot nor does it have the means or even the intention of becoming embroiled in a world-changing confrontation. It also has a relatively small GDP (especially compared to its population) and an economy that has a lot of people working on subsistence level rather than as a part of the global supply chain. It also doesn't have huge natural resources for exploitation. These are some of the reasons why I don't put it up there despite how huge the population is. Maybe it can be swapped out with Morocco.
Banglaesh have the 9th largest economy within the muslim world.Along with 3rd largest population and 7th largest standing military it definitely can be regarded among the top ten muslim country.Your assumption about Bangladesh not being connected to global supply chain is also false as it is the 2nd largest clothing exporter after China.Moreover economy of Bangladesh is growing 7 percent per annuam and it is predicted to become among top 30 economy in the world within 2030.(current position is 44th.)
2-10 (not in order):
Egypt
Turkey
Iraq
Kuwait
Qatar
United Arab Emirates
Iran
Pakistan
Indonesia
11-20 (not in order):
Morocco
Algeria
Libya
Lebanon
Syria
Yemen
Oman
Kazakhstan
Bangladesh
Malaysia
21-30 (not in order):
Senegal
Mali
Tunisia
Sudan
Somalia
Bahrain
Azerbaijan
Turkmenistan
Uzbekistan
Afghanistan
31-40 (not in order):
Bosnia
Albania
Mauritania
Guinee
Burkina Faso
Niger
Chad
Tajikistan
Kyrgyzstan
Brunei
41-45 (not in order):
Gambia
Sierra Leone
Djibouti
Comoros
Maldives
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