Consulate-General of Bangladesh

Consulate-General of Bangladesh 🇧🇩
Location: 24/F, SUP Tower, 75-83 King's Road, North Point, Hong Kong

Hello y’all! (hello means hello in Bengali) After around 15 minutes of fiddling, David finally figured out how to record our intro on Instagram, and we were able to walk into the Bangladeshi consulate. The first impression when walking in was the name of the consulate in glowing neon letters. We talked to the lady behind the front desk, and we were quickly ushered into a modern-looking conference room, where the staff kindly put away some books that were left out. Soon, we were introduced to Mr. Alam, who is the acting Consul General. We learnt that the mission began in 1976 as a trade office, and became a consulate general following the handover.

As Hong Kong is a large financial hub, it is very important to Bangladesh. In fact, Hong Kong is one of Bangladesh’s largest sources of foreign direct investment. This is important for Bangladesh’s garment industry, of which they are now the world’s 2nd largest producer. The next time you go to Zara, H&M, or Marks & Spencer, there’s a good chance whatever you're buying is from Bangladesh. Other industries that Bangladesh has been trying to expand into are pharmaceuticals and IT. Furthermore, Bangladesh has been working on 2-3 trade agreements with Hong Kong.

In addition, we also learned that the Bangladeshi consulate prioritizes cultural exchange, encouraging more students to come to Hong Kong universities, renting booths at HK government events, and working to hold Bengali cultural events, including a Bengali Drama showing next week. This cultural exchange has also manifested itself in the approximately 3 to 4 thousand Bangladeshi citizens residing in Hong Kong, the majority of whom are domestic helpers, traders, businessmen, bankers, and students.

We’d like to thank Mr. Alam and his staff for their hospitality, and especially for the steaming hot cups of tea that were brought to us midway through our longest interview so far. We’d encourage you all to learn more about Bangladesh’s fascinating culture, and perhaps even visit in the future!