China and India, the big neighbours of Bangladesh should cooperate to accelerate regional connectivity and economic integration in South Asia.
Instead of using coercive tactics, the big powers in South Asia should end the rivalry to bring economic benefits for the teeming millions in the region, experts told a conference in the city on Wednesday.
They said China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal (BBIN) initiative will play a vital role in increasing bilateral and multilateral trade by ensuring regional integration.
South Asia is the least economically integrated region in all of Asia.
The region's lack of access to global market means limited investments from the Western world. As a result most of the South Asian countries perform poorly compared to their South East Asian and East Asian counterparts.
The conference, organised by Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS), was addressed by diplomats, economists, academicians and bureaucrats from Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
International think tank Konrad Adenauer Stiftung was the co-organiser of the conference.
Addressing the conference, Professor Dr Mustafizur Rahman said to attain the status of middle income country, Bangladesh should turn its comparative advantage to competitive one to materialise the benefits of connectivity.
He said both BBIN and BRI can be driving forces for promoting trade in South Asian region.
He said though BRI was initiated by China, other countries of the region can be immensely benefitted through this arrangement.
And in both these arrangements our ports can be strategic hubs for trade facilitation, he added. He stressed the need for exports of both goods and services to attain desired economic goals of the concerned countries.
Major General (Rtd) Dipangkar Banarejee, member of Indian think tank Forum for Strategic Initiative said if a regional grouping is dictated by a single country that cannot be successful.
Former commerce secretary of Nepal Purushottam Ojha said as India, Nepal and Bangladesh import higher volume of goods from far away countries like Congo, Botsowana or Ivory Coast, there is a vast opportunity to promote trade within themselves.
"India imports more from Ivory Coast than from Nepal, Bangladesh imports more from Congo than from Nepal," he said pointing out the sorry state of trade cooperation within the region.
Former commerce secretary of Bangladesh Sohail Ahmed Chowdhury said political will and change in mindset is crucial to make the regional cooperation fruitful.
He mentioned that Bangladesh-Nepal and Bangladesh-Bhutan trade corridor through Banglabandha land port could not be made property functional in the last three decades due to various interferences.
"We have to remove such interferences," he noted.
Former Ambassador Tariq Karim stressed the need for making the Bay of Bengal the hinterland of south Asian regional connectivity.
Former foreign secretary Towhid Hossain said cooperation cannot be developed if big neighbours would not go for mutual benefit.
BIISS director general Major General AKM Abdur Rahman made the welcome speech while Ambassador Munshi Faiz Ahmed chaired the inaugural session.
Foreign Minister AH Mahmod Ali, in a written statement on the occasion of the conference said, the BBIN platform serves as a model for sub regional connectivity.
On BRI he said, Bangladesh views that its own connectivity initiatives in the sub region and within the region is aligned with and complementing to the wider connectivity architecture envisaged under BRI.
Foreign secretary Kamrul Islam (bilateral) read out the Foreign Minister's statement.
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