THE UN PROCUREMENT FROM DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: PROSPECTS AND CHALLENGES FOR BANGLADESH

Abstract

Every year the United Nations (UN) organizations procure various goods and services offering   great business opportunities for the developing countries. The total procurement volume of the UN in 2014 was more than 17 billion US Dollar. The trend of procurement shows that the volume of procurement from the developing countries is on the rise conforming to the UN policy. The share of neighbouring and SAARC countries in the overall procurement volume of the UN system has also increased by a significant amount. Though Bangladeshi suppliers have been providing goods and services to different UN agencies for last ten years, Bangladesh has not witnessed a significant rise in her procurement volume. The UN environment as well as the domestic environment in conjunction with the system of UN procurement offer both opportunities and challenges for the Bangladeshi suppliers. Selection of suitable categories of goods and services in a competitive international market is also very important to increase the share in the UN procurement volume. In dealing with such business environment and finding ways ahead for Bangladesh, a systematic and critical review of the Annual Statistics Reports on UN Procurement and published articles in books and websites of the UN agencies was carried out. Officials of various leading organization doing business with the UN and government offices were also interviewed. It was evident from the study that Bangladesh can benefit from the extensive participation of the local suppliers through market research and capacity building to maintain the standard set by the UN agencies. An integrated approach to create awareness and training on doing business with the UN is likely to be instrumental in increasing the share of Bangladesh in the UN procurement volume.