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Dhaka, Feb 19 (UNB) – Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) on Monday said the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) region is passing through critically important changes to enable a strong sub-regional connectivity in the coming days.
At a press conference to announce the opening of the BCIM Dhaka Forum from February 23, CPD economists also stressed searching ways for the institutionalisation of cooperation among the four countries to strengthen and accelerate the process of economic integration of the BCIM.
The Dhaka round will be the 11th BCIM Forum with CPD playing the role of the host.
The BCIM Forum originated in 1999 from an initiative by a number of institutions of the four participating countries, inspired by an ambition to promote the cause of closer cooperation.
CPD executive director Mostafizur Rahman said: “The (BCIM) region is passing through critically important changes which have far-reaching consequences for the regional countries and also wider world.”
He said the rise of the economies of India and China, the new developments in Myanmar towards democratic governance and Bangladesh’s unique geographical location offer potentials for the enhancement of connectivity, trade and commerce in the region.
“About 200 crore people are living in the region and the GDPs of the four countries amount to US$ 9,300 billion,” he added.
Briefing reporters at the CPD office, Mostafizur Rahman said discussions in the Dhaka Forum will be centred on potentials of cooperation among the countries in various sectors – first, energy and mineral resources, and then the issues of connectivity, trade and commerce.
The ways to reach to institutional agreements involving both the government and private sectors of the four countries will also be discussed in a session of the Dhaka Forum, he added.
A distinctive feature of the 11th BCIM is that it will coincide with a 12-day 3000-kilometre car rally from Kolkata in India to Kunming in China via Jessore, Dhaka and Sylhet in Bangladesh; Silchar and Imphal in eastern India; Ka Lay, Mandalay, Ruili and Tenchong in Myanmar; and Dali in the Hunan province in China.
The theme of the car rally is ‘Building bonds, fostering friendship’ and the rally retraces historical Southern Silk Road to highlight the vast potentials of the renewed networks for closer economic, cultural and people to people cooperation, said the CPD executive director.
Asked why a much shorter alternative route via Teknaf in Bangladesh was not considered for the rally, he replied that the route was fixed by the Roads Division of the Communications Ministry from Bangladesh’s part.
Mustafizur also noted that the much talked about Asian Highway may consist of several other routes in order to link the Chittagong port with it.
There is a big potential for another route from Chittagong-Kunming, he said, while the southern China could never be connected without the construction of a deep sea port in the Bay of Bengal.
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