India's foreign policy for next 5 years: Expanding bilateral ties with Bangladesh vital for New Delhi's 'Act East' targets

Firstpoost
June 12, 2019

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's tour of the Maldives was his first international visit after having taken oath for the second time. His 2014 swearing-in ceremony featured leaders from SAARC nations as special invitees, while in 2019, it was the BIMSTEC leaders and those from Kyrgyzstan and Mauritius who were in attendance, underlining the importance the prime minister places on international relations. This is the fourth in a series of articles that looks at key foreign policy targets for the Modi government as it looks to the next five years.

No sooner had the list of invitees for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's swearing-in ceremony on 30 May was made public, than two things became fairly apparent

First, and most obvious, diplomatic overtures aimed at Pakistan seem to be off the table for the near future. While Afghanistan was also left off the invitees' list, not a lot needs to be read into it since bilateral relations remain warm and New Delhi-Kabul cooperation has tended to work better in a bilateral capacity than in a defunct regional grouping like the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).

Second, and more pertinent, India, it would appear, has hitched its wagon to the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) as far as regional groupings are concerned. And the key piece of that BIMSTEC puzzle, ergo, one of India's key gateways to East Asia is Bangladesh.

 Indias foreign policy for next 5 years: Expanding bilateral ties with Bangladesh vital for New Delhis Act East targetsFile image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Bangladesh's prime minister Sheikh Hasina. 

The Ministry of External Affairs website duly notes that Bangladesh is India's largest trade partner in South Asia — with bilateral trade standing at $9.3 billion in 2017-18. The country is also India's largest development partner with New Delhi extending three lines of credit worth a total of $8 billion since 2010. Collaboration in the power sector is another notable aspect of the relationship, with joint ventures in thermal power projects and the fact that Bangladesh imports 1160 MW of power from India annually.

Meanwhile, in the past five years, two thorny issues of a territorial nature were also resolved amicably: In 2014, the United Nations' Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled in favour of Bangladesh in a maritime dispute, awarding Bangladesh around 19,500 square kilometres of the 25,000 or so square kilometre sea area of the Bay of Bengal. And in 2015, the two countries signed the India-Bangladesh Land Boundary Agreement that saw the exchange of 162 enclaves — Bangladesh received 111 of them that make up around 17,000 acres of land, while India received 51, that add up to over 7,000 acres of land.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

ED tracks Swiss Bank A/Cs of Agusta scamster

The Poineer February 10,2019 Rakesh K Singh The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has tracked a dozen Swiss bank accounts in the name of Rajiv Saxena, who is key accused in the Rs 3,600 crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam. The ED has also found out accounts held by  his family members and associates where the kickbacks in the now scrapped deal were allegedly parked. Two bank accounts are in the name of Rajiv Saxena’s  associates Pankaj Jain and Sumita Jain who are also the authorised signatories. The  third is in the name of another associate Ajit Singh Bubber, but Rajiv and his family members are authorised signatories. The remaining nine accounts are largely owned and operated by Rajiv, his family members and associates. Rajiv Saxena was deported by the UAE authorities on January 30 and the ED formally arrested him the next day and a court later granted his remand to the agency. He is currently undergoing custodial interrogation by the ED. The agency had in 2017 arrested his
Read more

J&K Cricket Board Scam: Chargesheet Filed Against Farooq Abdullah, 3 Others By CBI

OUTLOOK July 16, 2018 The agency has levelled charges of criminal conspiracy and criminal breach of trust under the Ranbir Penal Code against Abdullah and three others. The CBI on Monday filed a chargesheet against former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah and three others in a special court in Srinagar in connection with alleged irregularities and misappropriation of funds in the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association. After the fall of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the BJP government, this is the biggest development that has taken place in the state. The National Conference has not reacted to the chargesheet so far. The agency has levelled charges of criminal conspiracy and criminal breach of trust under the Ranbir Penal Code against Abdullah, the then president of JKCA, Md Saleem Khan - the then general secretary, Ahsan Ahmad Mirza - the then treasuer and Bashir Ahmad Misgar, an executive in the J&K Bank. The BCCI gave Rs 112 crore t
Read more

As financial insecurity rises in urban India, so does investment in insurance

Image
Scroll.in March 13, 2020 Urban Indians are becoming less confident about their financial security. Up to 58% of them fret over financial independence post retirement, which is a 4% increase from last year. An equal share of urban Indians worry about meeting their daily medical expenses and sustaining their current lifestyle once they stop working. The findings are part of a survey published by Delhi-based Max Life Insurance in association with London-based consultancy Kantar. The firms surveyed 7,014 respondents in 25 cities, including six metros, nine tier-1 cities, and 10 tier-2 cities, between December 2019 and January 2020. Source: Max Life Insurance via Quartz The trends Source: Max Life Insurance via Quartz Source: Max Life Insurance via Quartz Source: Max Life Insurance via Quartz A significant share of urban Indians also say their families will have no financial support in the event of the breadwinner’s death. In such a scenario, around 57% believe the family sav
Read more