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Officials from Beijing and Dhaka would meet Sunday (tomorrow) to discuss construction of a highway from Kunming in China to Kolkata through Myanmar, northeast India and Bangladesh to boost trade and investment in South and Southeast Asia, officials said Friday.
A delegation of the Chinese government would arrive in Dhaka Saturday (today) to discuss with the government of Bangladesh construction of the proposed Bangladesh, China, India, Myanmar (BCIM) Economic Corridor, said Sheikh Md Belal, director general of the ministry of foreign affairs.
The delegation, led by Deputy Director of the National Development & Reform Commission of China, Lin Dajian, will meet foreign, Economic Relations Division (ERD), communications and energy secretaries tomorrow (Sunday).
The proposed China-Myanmar-northeast India-Bangladesh-India (Kolkata) road would be known as the BCIM Economic Corridor, he told the FE.
"The proposal on the corridor is still in the very initial stage. We need to work out details of how we can proceed with the proposed South-Southeast Asian connectivity highway," Mr Belal said.
But it would be a great opportunity for Bangladesh and other South Asian and Southeast Asian countries to take their bilateral economic cooperation to a new height, he added.
During the meeting in Dhaka with the Chinese delegation, Bangladesh would try to reach a consensus on preparing a framework for establishing the road connectivity, the foreign ministry official told the FE.
Another official said the route for the proposed BCIM Economic Corridor might run from Kunming in China to Kolkata in India via Chuxiong-Dali-Baoshan-Dehong-Namhkan in Myanmar, Lashio-Mandalay-Imphal in India's Manipur state, Silchar in India's Assam state and Karimganj-Dhaka in Bangladesh.
The official said: "The Chinese delegation is now in India. After completing the visit there, it will arrive in Dhaka Saturday. The delegation will also meet the Myanmar authorities to work out details of the proposed economic corridor."
Bangladesh is very positive on establishing the economic corridor with China, Myanmar and India through the route to enhance economic and other relations with the Southeast and East Asian countries, according to the finance ministry official.
Bangladesh is heavily dependent on some countries like India, European nations and the United States for its export and import business.
The volume of the country's trade with the Southeast Asian countries is very negligible.
"If the route is established, it will provide Bangladesh with an opportunity to enhance economic cooperation with the Southeast Asian and East Asian countries," a commerce ministry official told the FE.
He said it would not only open a new avenue of trade, but also create scopes for cross-border investment, cultural exchange and manpower export, and help address other bilateral and multilateral issues concerning the South and Southeast Asian nations.
According to government officials, the BCIM Economic Corridor was first proposed by the Yunnan provincial government of China about a decade ago. It did not see light of the day due to a lack of interest of the participating countries.
Then the Yunnan provincial government sent the proposal to its central government. The central government had taken it up seriously and started to proceed with it, the officials said.
Director General of the foreign ministry Sheikh Md Belal said: "In our discussion Sunday with the Chinese delegation, we will try to know about the opinion of the Indian government. We will also discuss details about the possibility and prospects
of the corridor."
"If China, India and Myanmar agree, we will try to form a common platform, which will work out further details of how to construct the regional highway," he added.
It was reported that the BCIM corridor would cover nearly 1.65 million square kilometres encompassing an estimated 440 million people in the regions of Yunnan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, West Bengal, Bihar and the two states in northern India.
Another FE report adds: China has already forwarded draft of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to be signed by the four participating countries seeking to make the economic corridor a success.
"As per goals of cooperation, the member-states will exchange information and promote cooperation in investment, trade, transportation, energy, finance, telecommunication, broadcasting and television, agriculture, regional collaboration and people-to-people exchange," the draft of the MoU said.
They will form a joint coordination committee co-chaired by ministerial level officials from each country while another body namely joint working group (JWG) will be formed at the director general level.
The JWG will coordinate and implement relevant cooperation, and hold consultation whenever necessary. A secretariat of the BCIM Economic Corridor will be established in each country.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang in a joint statement earlier on May 20 in New Delhi initiated the move to build the economic corridor.
Under the BCIM Forum, a Business Council was already formed by prime chambers of commerce of the member-countries of the bloc in 2012.
Officials said India already sanctioned a loan of US$500 million to Myanmar for connecting the two countries with Thailand by 2016.
Ahead of the Chinese delegation's visit to Dhaka the foreign ministry held an inter-ministerial meeting to make its position clear on the BCIM corridor.
Dhaka-Beijing meet on BCIM economic corridor tomorrow :: Financial Express :: Financial Newspaper of Bangladesh
A delegation of the Chinese government would arrive in Dhaka Saturday (today) to discuss with the government of Bangladesh construction of the proposed Bangladesh, China, India, Myanmar (BCIM) Economic Corridor, said Sheikh Md Belal, director general of the ministry of foreign affairs.
The delegation, led by Deputy Director of the National Development & Reform Commission of China, Lin Dajian, will meet foreign, Economic Relations Division (ERD), communications and energy secretaries tomorrow (Sunday).
The proposed China-Myanmar-northeast India-Bangladesh-India (Kolkata) road would be known as the BCIM Economic Corridor, he told the FE.
"The proposal on the corridor is still in the very initial stage. We need to work out details of how we can proceed with the proposed South-Southeast Asian connectivity highway," Mr Belal said.
But it would be a great opportunity for Bangladesh and other South Asian and Southeast Asian countries to take their bilateral economic cooperation to a new height, he added.
During the meeting in Dhaka with the Chinese delegation, Bangladesh would try to reach a consensus on preparing a framework for establishing the road connectivity, the foreign ministry official told the FE.
Another official said the route for the proposed BCIM Economic Corridor might run from Kunming in China to Kolkata in India via Chuxiong-Dali-Baoshan-Dehong-Namhkan in Myanmar, Lashio-Mandalay-Imphal in India's Manipur state, Silchar in India's Assam state and Karimganj-Dhaka in Bangladesh.
The official said: "The Chinese delegation is now in India. After completing the visit there, it will arrive in Dhaka Saturday. The delegation will also meet the Myanmar authorities to work out details of the proposed economic corridor."
Bangladesh is very positive on establishing the economic corridor with China, Myanmar and India through the route to enhance economic and other relations with the Southeast and East Asian countries, according to the finance ministry official.
Bangladesh is heavily dependent on some countries like India, European nations and the United States for its export and import business.
The volume of the country's trade with the Southeast Asian countries is very negligible.
"If the route is established, it will provide Bangladesh with an opportunity to enhance economic cooperation with the Southeast Asian and East Asian countries," a commerce ministry official told the FE.
He said it would not only open a new avenue of trade, but also create scopes for cross-border investment, cultural exchange and manpower export, and help address other bilateral and multilateral issues concerning the South and Southeast Asian nations.
According to government officials, the BCIM Economic Corridor was first proposed by the Yunnan provincial government of China about a decade ago. It did not see light of the day due to a lack of interest of the participating countries.
Then the Yunnan provincial government sent the proposal to its central government. The central government had taken it up seriously and started to proceed with it, the officials said.
Director General of the foreign ministry Sheikh Md Belal said: "In our discussion Sunday with the Chinese delegation, we will try to know about the opinion of the Indian government. We will also discuss details about the possibility and prospects
of the corridor."
"If China, India and Myanmar agree, we will try to form a common platform, which will work out further details of how to construct the regional highway," he added.
It was reported that the BCIM corridor would cover nearly 1.65 million square kilometres encompassing an estimated 440 million people in the regions of Yunnan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, West Bengal, Bihar and the two states in northern India.
Another FE report adds: China has already forwarded draft of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to be signed by the four participating countries seeking to make the economic corridor a success.
"As per goals of cooperation, the member-states will exchange information and promote cooperation in investment, trade, transportation, energy, finance, telecommunication, broadcasting and television, agriculture, regional collaboration and people-to-people exchange," the draft of the MoU said.
They will form a joint coordination committee co-chaired by ministerial level officials from each country while another body namely joint working group (JWG) will be formed at the director general level.
The JWG will coordinate and implement relevant cooperation, and hold consultation whenever necessary. A secretariat of the BCIM Economic Corridor will be established in each country.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang in a joint statement earlier on May 20 in New Delhi initiated the move to build the economic corridor.
Under the BCIM Forum, a Business Council was already formed by prime chambers of commerce of the member-countries of the bloc in 2012.
Officials said India already sanctioned a loan of US$500 million to Myanmar for connecting the two countries with Thailand by 2016.
Ahead of the Chinese delegation's visit to Dhaka the foreign ministry held an inter-ministerial meeting to make its position clear on the BCIM corridor.
Dhaka-Beijing meet on BCIM economic corridor tomorrow :: Financial Express :: Financial Newspaper of Bangladesh
