Bangladesh–Germany relations are the bilateral relations between Bangladesh and Germany. Germany has an embassy in Dhaka, and Bangladesh has one in Berlin.
Germany was among the first European states to recognise Bangladeshi independence in 1972 and has since become the country's largest trading partner in Europe and its second-largest export market worldwide after the United States, with textiles accounting for more than 90 per cent of Bangladeshi exports to Germany. Bangladesh is one of Germany's bilateral partner countries for development cooperation, which has run continuously since the 1970s and has concentrated in recent years on climate and energy, governance, vocational training, migration and sustainable supply chains.
History After the independence of Bangladesh in 1971, East Germany was the third country in the world, and the first in Europe, to officially recognise Bangladesh in 1972. West Germany followed in the same year, and German development cooperation with Bangladesh began in the 1970s. After establishment of diplomatic relations, the bilateral relations began to grow steadily.
The relationship was formalised further in the twenty-first century. The two countries held their inaugural Strategic Dialogue in Berlin in August 2021, and subsequently developed a Climate and Development Partnership alongside expanding trade and cultural cooperation.
Following the political changes of 2024, Germany indicated early support for the interim administration. In September 2024 the German ambassador Achim Tröster called on Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus, said Germany would back the government's reform programme, and pointed to a commitment of €600 million for renewable energy. After the 2026 election, Frank Hartmann, director general for Asia and the Pacific at the Federal Foreign Office, visited Dhaka from 9 to 11 June 2026 and said that Germany and Europe were willing to engage more closely with Bangladesh following what he described as a successful democratic transition.
Diplomatic relations and visits On 25 October 2011 the Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina met German chancellor Angela Merkel in Germany, on a four-day official visit to attend the World Health Summit 2011, along with a meeting on the two nations. The former President of the Federal Republic of Germany, Christian Wulff, visited Bangladesh from 28 November to 30 November 2011 accompanied by Members of the German Parliament, State Secretaries of the German Foreign Office and the German Ministry for Economics and Technology as well as a high-level business delegation.
Exchanges became more frequent in the mid-2020s. Johann Saathoff, state secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), visited Dhaka for two days in October 2025, meeting officials of the Economic Relations Division as well as United Nations and civil society representatives, with talks centred on climate and energy, good governance and sustainable economic growth. Annual consultations on development cooperation were held at the Economic Relations Division in Dhaka on 8 December 2025, led by ERD secretary Md. Shahriar Kader Siddiky and by Barbara Schäfer, head of the BMZ's South Asia division.
During Hartmann's visit in June 2026 he called on State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shama Obaed Islam, accompanied by the German ambassador Rüdiger Lotz. The two sides discussed trade, investment, supply chains, skills development and migration, and Bangladesh set out its interest in a free trade agreement with the European Union; the Rohingya crisis also featured prominently, with Bangladesh urging support for voluntary and dignified repatriation to Myanmar. Hartmann congratulated Bangladesh on its election to the presidency of the United Nations General Assembly for the 2026–27 session.
Economic relations As an economic power as well as an important member of the European Union (EU), Germany is a reliable partner of Bangladesh in development co-operation.
In trade with Germany, Bangladesh has for years recorded a large surplus. Germany is the second largest export market of Bangladesh after the US. Bilateral trade is with about 4.5 billion euros in 2012. A German-Bangladeshi investment promotion and protection agreement has been in force since 1986 and a bilateral double taxation accord since 1993. So far German direct investments in Bangladesh are almost €60 million. The Bangladesh-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BGCCI) acts as a business platform and mediator between both the countries.
By 2023, total trade had grown to €8.6 billion with €6.9 billion trade balance in Bangladesh's favour.Largest trade partners of Germany (2023) The Federal Foreign Office put the 2024 figure at approximately €9 billion, with German exports falling and imports rising over the year. Germany remained Bangladesh's second-largest bilateral export market, and the European Union as a whole its principal export destination, a pattern encouraged by the tariff preferences Bangladesh receives under the EU's Everything but Arms arrangement. Textiles make up over 90 per cent of Bangladeshi exports to Germany, while Bangladesh imports machinery, chemical products and electrical goods.
Exports of cycles by Bangladesh to Germany gained some negative attention after German customs suspected that these cycles were in fact not of Bangladeshi origin, but merely assembled in Bangladesh. Germany has been Bangladesh's largest market for bicycles. Germany has strict policies of knowing the actual country of origin for its imported goods in order to implement duty taxes. As a result of this policy and having strict anti-dumping duty laws and other tariffs, the German import customs demanded an inspection of Bangladeshi factories in order to verify the true origins of these bicycles.
The German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act (Lieferkettensorgfaltspflichtengesetz, LkSG), passed in June 2021 and in force from 1 January 2023, has been a significant issue for the Bangladeshi garment sector. The law requires large German companies to conduct human rights and environmental due diligence across their supply chains, with penalties for breaches, and initially applied to firms with 3,000 or more employees before the threshold fell to 1,000 in 2024. Ahead of its entry into force, ambassador Tröster told Bangladeshi exporters they would need to demonstrate compliance with labour, human rights and environmental standards in order to retain access to the German market, and the German embassy wrote to the garment manufacturers' associations BGMEA and BKMEA to the same effect.
Development cooperation Germany has been actively involved in supporting sustainable development in Bangladesh through various initiatives. The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) has been working in Bangladesh since 1972, focusing on areas such as sustainable infrastructure, social development, governance, democracy, environment, climate change, economic development, and employment. Bangladesh is one of some 47 bilateral partner countries of German development cooperation, and since the programme began in the 1970s Germany has provided more than €3.5 billion for bilateral projects, implemented chiefly through GIZ, KfW and the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources.
At government negotiations in May 2024 Germany pledged €180 million for bilateral development cooperation projects, prioritising renewable energies and climate change adaptation, including utility-scale solar parks and possible grid battery storage, together with urban climate adaptation, natural resource protection and improved conditions for textile workers; Bangladeshi media reported the package as €232.5 million in loans and grants. Three technical cooperation agreements worth €14.45 million were signed in January 2025, and a further commitment of €21.77 million for sustainable development projects followed in January 2026. A memorandum of understanding with the Economic Relations Division was signed on 11 June 2026, and in July 2026 GIZ and the Technical and Madrasah Education Division signed an agreement for a technical and vocational education project on renewable energy skills, aligned with the Bangladesh TVET Implementation Plan 2025–2030.
Germany co-leads the Team Europe Initiative for Green Energy Transition in Bangladesh with the EU delegation, and its programme also covers sustainable urban development, water supply and vocational training; continuing projects include the climate-adapted drinking water scheme for Dhaka at Saidabad. Separately, Germany has allocated more than €185 million since 2017 to support Rohingya refugees and their host communities in the south-east of the country, and has argued at the political level for a durable solution while the conditions for voluntary and dignified return to Myanmar are absent.
Migration and education Labour migration has become a growing element of the relationship. Germany liberalised its skilled-migration rules from June 2024 and has identified Bangladesh as one of its focus countries in South Asia, though without the country-specific quota agreed with some other states. As of 2024 around 22,000 Bangladeshis lived in Germany according to the Federal Statistical Office, of whom roughly 12,000 held insured employment, the largest share in hospitality. In June 2025 the Bangladeshi foreign secretary Asad Alam Siam pressed for broader legal migration channels for skilled professionals under the Bangladesh–EU Talent Partnership and for faster visa processing for students. The number of Bangladeshi students at German universities has risen steadily in recent years.
Cultural relations The German and Bengali people have a century-old cultural exchange history. German interest in the culture of Bengal dates back to the visits to Germany by the Bengali national poet and Nobel laureate for literature Rabindranath Tagore in the 1920s and 1930s. Many Bangladeshi writers, artists and philosophers take a keen and informed interest in German literature, art, architecture and philosophy. Rapidly increasing contacts amongst German and Bangladeshi artists, primarily in fine arts, photography, film and theatre are well appreciated from both countries. On 6 October 2010 Deutsche Welle (DW), officially launched its programmes in Bengali using the FM frequencies of the state-run radio station Bangladesh Betar.
The cultural cooperation between both countries is mainly channeled through the Goethe Institute that work on developing the cultural ties by sponsoring local and German cultural activities. It is also one of the main meeting place for all those interested in Germany. To exchange experience in primary education section an innovative programme called "Schools: Partners for the Future," was introduced by the Goethe Institute, which allows the primary school teacher training in Germany.
German organizations in Bangladesh German Embassy Dhaka Goethe-Institut Dhaka German Academic Exchange Service Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit KfW
Resident diplomatic missions Bangladesh has an embassy in Berlin. Germany has an embassy in Dhaka.
See also Foreign relations of Bangladesh Foreign relations of Germany Bangladesh–European Union relations
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Further reading