Potential of cooperation with Myanmar

At a time when Bangladesh has attached significant importance to its 'Look East' policy, the country's relations with its immediate neighbour Myanmar on its south-eastern border certainly leave much to be desired.  No wonder, an international symposium in Dhaka early this week recommended for a trilateral cooperation arrangement among Bangladesh, India and Myanmar. The two-day event came up with seven-point recommendations that included, among others, further enhancing trilateral ties in areas like trade and commerce, connectivity, energy, gas, culture and education. It also pleaded for formation of a nine-member committee with three members from each of the countries to find ways and means to identify newer areas of cooperation. Joint efforts were sought to combat fundamentalism, terrorism and border problems through diplomatic channel and civil society initiatives.

On its part, Bangladesh needs to tread a cautious path while acting on the recommendations that were mooted at the Dhaka symposium. It should keep in view the dynamics of China-Myanmar relations in today's changed context. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, during her last visit to Beijing, was reported to have sought Chinese cooperation in motivating Yangon to build a road linking Bangladesh and Myanmar which could eventually extend to China. Notwithstanding some recent unsavoury developments in the bilateral relations between China and Myanmar, the two sides have otherwise been maintaining close diplomatic, political, economic and security ties until now. Yangon's bilateral relations with New Delhi have also considerably improved and expanded in recent years. Dhaka can explore ways to use the existing China-Myanmar and India-Myanmar bilateral relations as a conduit for expanding and widening its own bilateral relationship with Yangon.

In this context, the proposed quadrilateral Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) cooperation framework can be quite relevant for strengthening Bangladesh's bilateral relations with Myanmar. Dhaka has been playing a pro-active role in an early conclusion of the BCIM deal and its operationalisation. The last round of discussions for structuring this cooperation framework was held in Cox's Bazar. The next meeting of the representatives of the four countries will take place in Kolkata, the capital of the Indian state of Paschimbanga where the agreement on the BCIM regional grouping is expected to be signed. Hopefully, everything will go well for the purpose in order to give a structured shape to this grouping.

When the BCIM comes into being, it will be a befitting forum for Bangladesh to facilitate expansion and strengthening of its bilateral relationship with Myanmar in order to harness the potential of mutually beneficial partnership on a wider scale in a win-win situation. There is not a priori reason to consider the proposal of a trilateral cooperation arrangement involving Bangladesh, India and Myanmar as antithetical to the BCIM forum. Rather, this can reinforce the process for wider cooperation in the region involving China as well, for greater benefits of all the countries, considering Beijing's move to give shape to its Silk Road initiative.