Published in New Age on Sunday, 9 February 2014.
Bangladesh to proceed with BCIM economic corridor plan
Nazmul Ahsan
Bangladesh will emerge as a potential commercial hub of South-East Asia and can reap maximum economic benefit from the proposed Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar Economic Corridor, a concept paper of foreign ministry said.
The geographical location of the country would help it maximise the potentials lying in the huge market with 40 per cent of world population in the proposed four-nation economic bloc, it said.
Initiated by the civil society members of the four countries in 1999, the proposed economic block has got importance in recent period to the respective governments, a senior foreign ministry official said.
‘BCIM is a land bridge between South-Southeast/East Asia and Southeast-Central Asia. From geo-political point of view, Bangladesh lies at the heart of BCIM region,’ reads a concept paper, prepared by the foreign ministry.
‘If Bangladesh can connect with China through Myanmar, considering the magnitude of commercial prospects, Bangladesh could become a commercial hub of South-South-East Asia. This will institute immense value to Bangladesh’s economic growth and trade,’ it reads.
Foreign secretary Md Shahidul Haque recently attended a BCIM joint study group meeting in Kunming in China which was also attended, among others, by Centre for Policy Dialogue executive director Mustafizur Rahman.
An inter-ministerial meeting, chaired by foreign secretary at the foreign ministry on February 6 decided to proceed with the BCIM idea for greater economic integration, sources said.
The meeting was told that a meeting of the foreign ministers of the bloc was expected to be held in Dhaka or Beijing sometime in April.
A few days back, commerce minister Tofail Ahmed said that the government was willing to go forward with the framework of BCIM to have better economic integration and connectivity among the four-member bloc.
Commerce secretary Mahbub Ahmed said that both commerce and foreign ministries were working to push forward the BCIM initiative.
‘For better connectivity and economic integration, the government seeks to spur connectivity and trade to new heights,’ Mahbub told New Age.
The concept paper said that China’s south-western Yunnan province was nearer to Chittagong than Shanghai or Beijing. Allowing China to link up with a Bangladeshi sea port would be a lucrative offer to China;s booming commerce.
‘As a result, Bangladesh’s trade with China and Myanmar will burgeon,’ the paper said, adding that Bangladesh might encourage both Chinese and Indian investment in the country’s deep-sea port.
The intra-BCIM trade in 2011 was $90 billion, which was $6 billion in 2001.
According to a report of commerce ministry, however, 77 per cent or $ 70 billion of the total trade was driven by India and China.
The policy paper of the government said that developing a multi-modal transport linkage within BCIM region and linking it to global market beyond the region through development of deep seaport in the Bay of Bengal were of critical importance.
The proposed economic corridor would cover 1.65 million square km, encompassing an estimated 440 million people in China’s Yunnan province, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Bihar in Northern India. It would cover the area from Kunming (China) in the east to Kolkata (India) in the west.
With the linkage of roads, railways, airlines, water routes, telecommunication networks and power and hydro-carbon pipelines, the corridor would connect South–Western China, Eastern and North-eastern India, Myanmar and Bangladesh to form a thriving economic belt.
Mustafizur Rahman said that BCIM initiative would bring a tremendous opportunity for Bangladesh and other three member countries.
‘Bangladesh would benefit under the BCIM Economic Corridor initiative through connectivity and trade facilitation as two huge markets of China and India are the most attraction to boost trade and lure investment from the two emerging nations,’ Mustafiz said.