Bangladesh and India have their eyes set on a whole new level of connectivity beyond the traditional idea of transit, said officials of the countries.
Indian High Commissioner to Dhaka Pankaj Saran, after a meeting with Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed yesterday, said they were working on a “whole concept of connectivity.”
“The whole concept of connectivity was discussed in the meeting. The concept of connectivity is now becoming broader, growing beyond the old-fashioned concept of transit.”
Expanding the sphere of connectivity to such fields as power, telecom, water and others would be “mutually beneficial” for both the countries, he said.
“These are areas we are working on now and we are hopeful some real progress can be achieved.”
About the BCIM economic corridor, he said the matter had become official after a meeting in Kunming last December. “This is another interesting area of cooperation for us in the future.”
Pointing to the fact that Bangladesh’s exports to India reached $560 million last year, he said it was not enough and more Indian private investments should come to Bangladesh to reduce bilateral trade deficits.
“More Indian private investments will mean more jobs and it will also help increase Bangladesh’s exports to its neighbouring countries including India.”
Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed said Bangladesh would benefit from a functional BCIM economic corridor. “Bangladesh will benefit more through the BCIM corridor rather than the Saarc.”
He also said he had proposed transshipment with India in 1998 but it was not materialised.
“We will have broader connectivity when we have improved infrastructure. We want to have connectivity with all countries. We have now exports to the seven-sister states and with a broader connectivity we can export more.”
About the trade problems with India, he said Bangladeshi businessmen were facing tariff and non-tariff barriers.
“When I went to India, I discussed the matter with the Indian prime minister, commerce minister, national security adviser and the business leaders.”