THE fairly low Intra-BCIM trade is hopefully going to get the much-needed boost after the two-day summit of BCIM at Cox’s Bazar concluded on Thursday. A Friday report of an English daily said, the meeting expected to establish a multi-billion dollar fund to pull in resources from various parties to set up a thriving economic belt connecting Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar. We welcome the BCIM move with an urge to ensure equal and dignified share of Bangladesh as an active regional partner as well as a policy maker in BCIM. BCIM, the regional platform of Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar, is expected to work on initiating a new economic corridor namely the K2K (Kunming-Ruili-Bhamo-Lashio-Mandalay-Tamu-Imphal-Sylhet-Dhaka-Kolkata) route, which is 2,800 km long and part of the historic Silk Route. It will cost about $22 billion to build the proposed BCIM Economic Corridor (BCIM-EC). About 55 percent of the fund might come from various multilateral development partners while the rest might be borne by the four governments and the concerned private sector.The figures require more in-depth study for a final estimation by the experts of the four nations, as decided in the 2nd BCIM meeting in Cox’s Bazar. The post-meeting joint minutes provides full details of the introduction, vision, major priorities and way forward. The vision said, the corridor would help the countries economically through connectivity and would exert an important role in maintaining peace and security in the region. The meeting decided to prepare a roadmap within the next six months for the proposed corridor. The countries will prepare combined reports on each area based on the ‘four country reports’ in the next six months. BCIM Joint Study Group (JSG) will prepare four country reports focusing on areas of institutional development, objectives of the Economic Corridor, concept, scope and elements, principles and modalities and framework of cooperation. Each report is expected to identify actionable areas and concrete projects focusing on realising the potentials of the corridor and also on deepening BCIM economy-wide cooperation.It sounds hope for Bangladesh, as the country will prepare a combined report on the framework of the economic corridor and sustainable development within its next six months agenda on BCIM. India will prepare a report on energy and trade while China on connectivity and investment. In between the two big neighbours, India and China in BCIM, Bangladesh must ensure its due interest through an effective economic diplomacy. The concept of the regional entity is praiseworthy in going ahead with the old Silk Route, as it includes roads, railways, airlines, water routes, telecommunication networks and energy pipelines connecting south-western China, eastern and north-eastern India, Myanmar and Bangladesh to form a thriving economic belt. The trade potential of the corridor stands at $132 billion. So the government should have no hesitation in missing it out considering a single policy stand. Our foreign policy must be an economic policy.
