Bangladesh is yet to sign a free trade agreement. Possibly, the country is feeling some sort of complacency because of its considerable achievement in global trade over the years. But the truth is many countries at a similar level of economic development are now much ahead of it in global trade. The way economies across the world are realigning themselves may make things difficult for Bangladesh in coming days.

Asean is an example. The 10-nation Asean countries signed free trade agreement among themselves long ago but they did not stop there. Asean countries, which include most of the South Asian countries, except Korea and Japan, decided to sign the RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership) agreement with China, India, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand and Australia. The RCEP, if signed, will represent half of the world's population and one-third of global gross domestic product.

Vietnam, starting much later than Bangladesh, has signed dozens of FTAs with its trade partners. In trade volume, it has caught up Bangladesh long ago and is now moving far ahead. Thailand is an example. Its economy is booming because it is globally linked with other economies. From tourism alone, Thailand earned 58 billion dollars in 2017, which is almost twice the size of Bangladesh's total exports.