India is actively trying to connect Bangladesh with India–Myanmar–Thailand Trilateral Highway project.
Top officials of India's Ministry of External Affairs and Ministry of Home Affairs indicated this at an event in Delhi on July 14.
The event was organized by the Land Ports Authority of India in New Delhi to release a report on how to improve border connectivity along the Indo-Myanmar border.
On the sidelines of the event, the company's chairman Aditya Mishra said that the integrated check post (ICP) they are setting up at Moreh in Manipur as part of the international highway will be fulfilled if the import and export of goods can also be done in Bangladesh.
Bangla TribunePrabhat Kumar, special secretary in India's Ministry of External Affairs, said that 50% of the projects being carried out by India on the Myanmar side of the highway have already been completed.
The projects include upgrading the 120-km Kalewa-Yagyi road to the level of an international highway and rebuilding 69 bridges and adjacent approach roads on the Tamu-Kalewa road.
The senior official also said that if Bangladesh is now connected to this highway, it will serve as a unique commercial link between the whole of South Asia and Southeast Asia.
The project's history
The 1,360km international highway from Moreh on the Manipur-Myanmar border to Ma Sut in Thailand was first proposed in 2002.
However, at that time, the four-party coalition government led by BNP's Khaleda Zia was in power in Dhaka, and their relations with India were not friendly.
As a result, Bangladesh showed no interest in joining the highway project.
In December 2020, Bangladesh first formally expressed its interest to join the project.
At the end of the virtual summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in December of that year, it was said that Bangladesh has sought India's support to join the tri-nation highway.
Bangla TribuneWhen Narendra Modi visited Dhaka three months later, the issue came up during the talks between the two prime ministers.
Later, after a meeting with the Thai foreign secretary in Dhaka four months ago, Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen also said that India and Thailand are fully ready to add Bangladesh to the tri-nation highway project as the fourth country – only Myanmar has not yet clarified their position on this.
Top government sources in Delhi the country is working behind the scenes to convince Myanmar to agree on the matter as well, as India also thinks that from a geographical, commercial, or strategic point of view, the project will be completed only when Bangladesh can be included in it.
Why Bangladesh is interested to join
There are two main reasons behind Bangladesh's interest in joining the project. They are:
1. Gateway to Asean:
If this highway is opened, it will open the doors of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or Asean for Bangladesh.
Currently, the highway is intended to terminate in Thailand, but all three partners in the project want to eventually extend the highway to Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam.
In that case, this highway will become the real bridge between Asean and the Indian subcontinent. From Dhaka or Kolkata, people can drive not only to Bangkok but to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam.
Bangla Tribune2. Access to Bhutan-Nepal:
Bangladesh wants this highway to extend not only to its southeast but also to the west.
Dhaka is placing special emphasis on the fact that Bangladeshi trucks can go to Nepal and Bhutan through India on the one hand, and to Myanmar-Thailand on the one hand by using the highway.
Expert's comment
Experts believe as the four countries of Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar have started work on the 'BCIM Corridor', which has not made much progress, so now this tri-nation highway can be a suitable alternative to it.
Professor Prabir De, who prepared the report on India-Myanmar connectivity on behalf of the Land Port Authority of India, said that this tri-nation highway is also known as the “Bimstec Highway” in regional contexts. Because it is also in the master plan of Bimstec Connectivity.
Now that Bangladesh is a full member of the Bimstec alliance, it has 100% jurisdiction to join the project.
Professor Prabir De Bangla TribuneNow the question stands if Bangladesh's participation in the highway project is finalized, on which route will be connected to the highway.
Here, too, experts have considered two possible routes. One of them is the connection with this highway to Moreh via Dhaka-Agartala-Silchar-Imphal.
The second is to create an additional connection of this highway from Dhaka or Chittagong to Zokhawthar on the Mizoram-Myanmar border via Agartala-Aizawl to Myanmar.