India can now access Bangladesh ports

[Rahul Singh]

India can now access Bangladesh ports

Agartala: Bangladesh will allow South Asian nations, including India, to access its Chittagong and Mongla ports and is keen to revive connectivity in the region, the country's Foreign Minister said here Wednesday.

"Bangladesh government wants to revive the decades old rail, road and air connectivity with all south-east Asian countries, specially India, for the expansion of trade and economic activity," Foreign Minister Dipu Moni said while addressing a business summit here.

Countries like India, Nepal, Bhutan, among other South Asian nations, will benefit the most, she said.



Earlier, access to these ports was denied to India and a few other countries due to security concerns raised by some opposition parties in Bangladesh.

The minister also stressed on greater economic cooperation between India and Bangladesh.

"The Southeast Asian region is the most poorly coordinated region in the world. Our mutual cooperation and coordination must be improved to a large extent to remove the common enemy - poverty," Moni stated.

Referring to the agreements signed during Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's visit to New Delhi earlier this year, she said that the two countries are now focussing on implementing the various proposals.

Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar said that his government is willing to supply electricity to power-starved Bangladesh from the two upcoming thermal power projects in the state, subject to central approval.

"If Bangladeshi businessmen want to set up any business establishments in Tripura, the state government would relax the norms," Sarkar added.

Tripura Industry and Commerce Minister Jitendra Choudhury said that the 260 km Dhaka-Chittagong highway can be accessed from Tripura through a short 11 km road, and is of strategic importance.

"This highway connects with with Chittagong port, one of the biggest international ports in Southeast Asia," he said.

"Development of transit and trans-shipment facilities via plains in Bangladesh and Tripura can help Bangladesh access a market that is estimated to be over $20 billion, more than twice the trade deficit between the two countries," the minister stated.

"Bangladesh has agreed to allow an Indian company to set up an information technology park at Ariapark, near Dhaka. Also, Tatas have decided to manufacture vehicles in Bangladesh, which will be exported all over the world," said Abdul Matlub Ahmad, president of India-Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

"New Delhi has sanctioned Rs.12.50 crore for the development of land customs stations (LCS) located along the India-Bangladesh border," Indian envoy to Bangladesh Rajeet Mitter said, adding that trade between the two countries has huge scope for growth.

-IANS

 

[Ray]

Good show.

It will help make SAARC meaningful.

 

[pmaitra]

This is a pleasant news. Now, North Eastern states will be able to export their products easily and not necessarily to rest of India alone. They will also be able to import from rest of the world. This is going to herald economic development of the North East.

Now, India needs to improve the railway network in North East, and work hard to achieve a Asia-Pacific railway through Myanmar, Thailand and the rest of Indo-China. It would be great to step into a train in Singapore and alight in New Delhi, from the tourism perspective, although freight is going to be the most likely purpose.

 

[Tshering22]

Good show.

It will help make SAARC meaningful.

Knowing Bangladesh's turbulent opposition and Sino-Pak-philic BNP in the opposition, I hesitate to think what would happen to these links later. Also SAARC is a dead agency unless and until we take the efforts of making a SAARC-ASEAN Summit that we can host with Vietnamese. Remember that we connect to southeast bigtime through Burma. The only problem in SAARC is Pakistan. But since Pakistan has no bone to pick with Southeast, I think even their ministers will agree for SAARC-ASEAN tie ups. If the trade and economic growth increases (which will eventually), we can combine entire South-Southeast Asian market as one single entity, making it even more convenient for external balancing parties like Russia to play a big role.

Remember, Southeast and South Asian products have a big market in our country whereby if we form this joint summit and succeed in making it one big trade entity, we will be able to successfully increase economic and hence strategic ties with Southeast friends and therefore over say a period of 10 years from today, might reduce Chinese influence making countries especially like Laos and Cambodia more independent in their political stand. Vietnam, Bhutan, Burma, Thailand and Bangladesh can be the key to this bigger agency, propped up by us.

 

[niharjhatn]

Knowing Bangladesh's turbulent opposition and Sino-Pak-philic BNP in the opposition, I hesitate to think what would happen to these links later. Also SAARC is a dead agency unless and until we take the efforts of making a SAARC-ASEAN Summit that we can host with Vietnamese. Remember that we connect to southeast bigtime through Burma. The only problem in SAARC is Pakistan. But since Pakistan has no bone to pick with Southeast, I think even their ministers will agree for SAARC-ASEAN tie ups. If the trade and economic growth increases (which will eventually), we can combine entire South-Southeast Asian market as one single entity, making it even more convenient for external balancing parties like Russia to play a big role.

Remember, Southeast and South Asian products have a big market in our country whereby if we form this joint summit and succeed in making it one big trade entity, we will be able to successfully increase economic and hence strategic ties with Southeast friends and therefore over say a period of 10 years from today, might reduce Chinese influence making countries especially like Laos and Cambodia more independent in their political stand. Vietnam, Bhutan, Burma, Thailand and Bangladesh can be the key to this bigger agency, propped up by us.

This, sir, is the exact thing that needs to happen. Form strong ties with other asian nations - something that India, I feel, needs to improve on! Formation of such ties do not always have to be with the biggest and best of nations!