BD needs Asean co-op for more trade

Business Report :
Bangladesh should establish warm relationships with members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) to boost trade and investment with them, which would also benefit the north-eastern region of India, according to an expert.
If Bangladesh uses Indian ports to increase trade with Asean countries, both nations would benefit, said Prabir De, a professor of the Research and Information System for Developing Countries, a New Delhi-based autonomous policy research institute.
De also said Bangladesh should follow India’s Look East Policy for boosting relations with Asean countries.
He went on to say there is a disparity between central India and its north-eastern states that should be removed.
De was speaking at a dialogue on “Bangladesh-India Relations: Outlook 2023 and Beyond Building on Connectivity and Capacity Building for Prosperous BIMSTEC Region”.
The South Asian Network on Economic Modeling (Sanem), Asian Confluence and South Asian Institute of Policy and Governance jointly organised the dialogue at North South University in Dhaka yesterday.
Various businessmen, academicians, experts and former diplomats participated in the event, which was moderated by Selim Raihan, executive director of Sanem.
Farooq Sobhan, a distinguished fellow and board member of the Bangladesh Enterprise Institute, said a new platform comprising Bangladesh, India and Asean members needs to be established for increasing more connectivity.
Also, there is a lot of scope for more investment and trade through this platform, he added.
Sobhan went on to say that increasing connectivity among nations in the region depends on how China behaves as the regional trade bloc among Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar is dead now.
He then raised the question on how the connectivity will realistically take place among nations of the region without solving the repatriation of 1.1 million Rohingyas to Myanmar.
The former ambassador also said economic cooperation and bilateral relations cannot be confined only among government officials as it is needs to include other people, such as university students.