Overview
Bangladesh, the world's eighth most populous country with a population of over 173 million, has made steady advances in human development, poverty reduction, and economic growth. It is the second-largest global exporter of ready-made garments and is expected to graduate to become a Middle-Income Country by 2026.
At the same time, Bangladesh remains highly vulnerable to climate change and continues to host approximately one million Rohingya refugees, making it one of the world’s top ten refugee host countries globally.
Our partnership
The EU is committed to supporting Bangladesh's journey toward sustainable and inclusive development, aligning its efforts with the national Bangladesh Five Year Plan, the United Nations 2030 Agenda, and the EU’s Global Gateway and Indo Pacific Strategies.
Team Europe in Bangladesh brings together the EU, the European Investment Bank (EIB), and Member States including Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Sweden, as well as Norway and Switzerland.
The EU partners with Bangladesh to foster sustainable development, human capital development, green transition, and inclusive governance.
Through the Global Gateway strategy, we work together to promote Clean Energy and Climate Action, education and skills, inclusive governance, migration management, and resilience.
The EU allocated €306 million in grant funding towards the partnership in 2021-2024 and a further €164 million for the 2025-2027 period. Bangladesh also benefits from two Team Europe Initiatives (TEIs) covering Decent Work and Green Energy Transition as well as several regional programmes, including in the area of circular economy, disaster risk responsiveness, and connectivity.
EU-Bangladesh partnership programming documents can be found in the 'Related documents' section below.
Our key initiatives
- Green growth
Together, we support Bangladesh’s transition towards a green, digital, and sustainable economy. Key actions focus on:
- Promoting renewable energy, energy efficiency and grid modernisation, including through the Bangladesh Renewable Energy Facility and regional energy connectivity initiatives.
- Enhancing climate resilience by supporting the construction of climate-resilient infrastructure and sustainable urbanisation.
- Supporting the decarbonisation of industries such as textiles, apparel, and leather by promoting environmental upgrades, energy efficiency improvements and rooftop solar.
- Investing in sustainable transport and water infrastructure, including the Laksam-Chattogram railway corridor upgrade and the Dhaka water supply and sanitation project.
- Human capital development
The EU strengthens human capital development and social resilience in Bangladesh. Key actions include:
- Advancing decent work by supporting labour law reforms, strengthening labour administration institutions, enhancing social dialogue, elimination of child labour, and supporting the private sector with human rights due diligence compliance.
- Reduce poverty and inequality by providing social protection budget support to promote a life-cycle, inclusive, and shock-responsive social protection system, with a particular focus on children and the working-age population.
- Improving the access to and the quality and governance of education and skills development through budget support, advancing reforms in primary education and TVET (Technical and Vocational Education and Training).
- Governance and digital transformation
We work together with Bangladesh to promote inclusive governance, rule of law, and digital public services. Actions include:
- Promoting human rights, democracy, and gender equality, including through collaborating with civil society organisations.
- Boosting digital governance and e-services through actions focused on interoperability, e-government platforms, and the National Digital Architecture.
- Enhancing public finance management through reform of the audit system, improved domestic revenue mobilisation, and anti-corruption efforts.
- Supporting access to justice by expanding Village Courts and digitalising legal aid services to ensure justice for all.
- Migration and forced displacement
The EU partners with Bangladesh on migration governance and refugee support. Key actions focus on:
- Strengthening migration governance and sustainable reintegration of returnees.
- Supporting Rohingya refugees and host communities in Cox’s Bazar through resilience-building programmes.
- Promoting legal migration pathways under the Talent Partnership between the EU and Bangladesh.
- Combating human trafficking and migration vulnerabilities through regional programmes across South and Southeast Asia.
