Connectivity with next-door neighbors

Dr Syed Nesar Ahmad Rumy :

Recently the geopolitics and geographical location of Bangladesh is a widely discussed issue.

Even regionally the geographical location of Bangladesh attracts major countries in the world.

Of late the G-20 summit held in New Delhi has attracted attention of the Bangladesh people and as well as intelligentsias.

Impulsive presence of Bangladesh delegation in the conference was also a discussion in the political arena in Bangladesh.

And after that the recent visit of French President Emmanuel Macron has added a new dimension of Bangladesh foreign policy.

Before going to the main discussion we have to take consideration of upcoming general election of Bangladesh which will be held early weeks of January 2024.

The present government will have to take all initiatives to turn the situation to their favor.

But the political situation of the country in the upcoming days is very much unclear.

Despite volatile politics and political situation Bangladesh has remarkable achievements in macro-economic side.

Especially the development of infrastructural side gets attention of the world as well as people of Bangladesh.

But at the same time lack of good governances in all the sectors in Bangladesh are very much vivid and people feel it in all of their activities.

In this context a new dimension has been added and that is laundering money from Bangladesh.

It came to the press and has become a talk of the country. All these incidents shrink government’s image and achievements.

The geographical location of Bangladesh is such that it cannot bypass its big neighbor and it is also true one cannot change its neighbors.

We all know that Bangladesh has two neighbors sharing common border.

Being a South Asian country Bangladesh has also some close neighboring countries. But they do not have common borders with Bangladesh.

Taking this reality into our consideration the best economic policy of Bangladesh might be strengthening connectivity with next-door neighboring countries.

For the interest of the economic development Bangladesh, strengthening connectivity with next-door neighbors is very much necessary.

In this context we can refer the group of countries evolved as named BIMSTEC.

It was launched in Bangkok in 1997. Already 25 years passed but we could not see any tangible development through BIMSTEC.

But our aspiration was high at the launching time of this organization.

Before launching BIMSTEC countries of this region also tried regional connectivity and cooperation through the SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation).

Why was the organization like BIMSTEC launched as there exist these sorts of organizations named SAARC? This is a valid question in the mind of the general people of Bangladesh.

We know Thailand, Myanmar are the members of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations).

And they are also the members of BIMSTEC. Some member countries of ASEAN have developed much and increased their living standard. But the countries of SAARC do not have much achievement collectively.

We also know that Bangladesh had pivotal role of launching SAARC during mid-eighties in inaugural session held in Dhaka in the last century.

Bangladesh has two neighbors India and Myanmar sharing common borders. And Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, China, Afghanistan and Maldives are located not very far from Bangladesh.

Within these countries Nepal and Bhutan are landlocked by India.

Keeping this reality in mind, our policymakers have framed our regional policy.

So the right path of Bangladesh is to create a congenial working relationship with our big next-door neighbor.

So that connectivity with our two landlocked neighbors becomes easier.

We know mutual trust and confidence prevail between the two governments and it is an admitted fact that relation between India and Bangladesh is all time better.

But it is the official version of the both the governments. Actually people to people contact and trust are also needed in this context.

Policymakers of both the countries should work more seriously on this issue.

With Myanmar Bangladesh has an extra-ordinary issue that is Rohingya issue. Currently both the countries are trying to start small scale Rohingya repatriation.

This would-be small scale repatriation is apparently a positive sign but some experts on this issue have doubts in this protraction plan of repatriation.

So all these outstanding issues must be solved as early as possible.

Even if this issue has no chance to be solved immediately then Bangladesh should stress normalcy of relationship with Myanmar.

And Rohingya issue should not be an obstacle to do so for the economic development of Bangladesh.

For the development and raising living standard connectivity with other neighboring countries are also essential.

Here connectivity does not mean only trade, rail, road, air, and river communications. It includes culture, education and many other issues.

To do all these, the visa issuing of our neighboring countries should be easier. In this case on arrival at the airports and on the border point issuing visa might be considered.

In this way people of our neighboring countries could visit Bangladesh easily and at the same time Bangladeshi people could also travel easily to the neighboring countries.

In this way mutual trust among the neighboring countries could have increased and the look-east policy with Myanmar and Thailand could have been strengthened.

The political masters always keep their eyes on the national interest of the country they represent.

But for the boosting regional cooperation, countries of this region must come to an adjustment with national interest plus regional cooperation. In this case European Union is an example to us.

There are many common issues among the member countries of South Asia such as climate, power, hydropower, natural gas, blue economy etc.

Taking all these issues mutually and address all these properly might fetch good economic condition to the countries of South Asia.

So this is high time policymakers and political masters of this region have to take decision to boost up the development of this region.

(The writer is a former civil servant).