As Bangladesh looks ahead in its development journey in the wake of its 50 years of independence as a nation, one thing is abundantly clear: The growth of South Asia overall will play a significant role in how far every nation is able to go.

Indeed, for too long, the South Asia region has knocked at the doors of a development breakthrough, with most of the nations either lower middle-income countries who have graduated from the Least Developed Country (LDC) status or, just like Bangladesh, are aspiring to do so in the coming future.