India ‘seriously committed’ to taking BBIN, BIMSTEC forward: Shringla

India is “seriously committed” to taking regional cooperation forward through the BBIN and BIMSTEC, the Indian high commissioner in Dhaka has said.

Senior Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 14 August 2018, 08:09 AM
Updated : 14 August 2018, 08:09 AM

Harsh Vardhan Shringla said several initiatives, including in the area of connectivity, are being planned under these groups.

Shringla made the comment just ahead of the BIMSTEC Summit in Kathmandu at the end of this month. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is expected to join the summit and meet with her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi.

“We attach high importance to the BIMSTEC as it touches upon two major aspects of our foreign policy--‘Neighbourhood First’ and the ‘Act East Policy’,” he said.

BIMSTEC connects South Asia with the Southeast Asia, and serves as a platform for inter-regional cooperation between SAARC and ASEAN members. Seven countries along the Bay of Bengal – Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand – are the members of this grouping which accounts for 21 percent of the world population.

The Indian high commissioner was speaking on ‘Contemporary India: Its Foreign Policy, Security and Development Strategy and Bangladesh-India Relations’ at the National Defence College in Dhaka on Monday.

This was the third time he had been invited to address the participants of the National Defence Course from the Bangladesh Armed Forces and the Civil Service.

He said India’s foreign and security policy imperatives are underpinned by the desire to achieve sustained and inclusive economic growth.

“The focus is on creating and enabling an environment for national growth and development by maintaining peace and stability; securing access to resources, energy, technologies, best practices and markets; and playing a constructive role in shaping the agenda and debate on issues of global interest.”

On regional cooperation, he said, the trial run of a passenger bus service from Dhaka to Kathmandu via Siliguri, held in April this year, was a “significant” step towards operationalising the BBIN – Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal - Motor Vehicles Agreement.

He said India has been a “proactive and constructive” contributor to shaping of the global agenda and debate on issues of common interest such as terrorism, climate change, nuclear proliferation and global governance reform.

“There has been increased support for India’s efforts to isolate terrorists and their sponsors. This was manifest in universal support for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 11-point action plan on combating terrorism at the G-20 Summit in Hamburg,” Shringla said.

“Bangladesh has also faced some serious challenges from terrorism and is an invaluable partner in our fight against terrorism.”

India fully supports Bangladesh’s policy of ‘zero-tolerance’ towards terrorism and stands with Bangladesh on this issue, he once again said.

He said five Ss in Hindi: ‘samman (respect)’; ‘samvad (dialogue)’; ‘sahyog (cooperation)’; ‘shanti (peace)’; ‘samriddhi (prosperity)’ are the five basic principles on which India’s engagement with the world will be based.

 “India-Bangladesh relations are anchored on a trust and friendship that goes beyond strategic partnership. Our shared values, culture, language, ancestral roots and other commonalities all contribute to a time-tested relationship,” he said.

He said over the last ten years, both sides have made “unprecedented progress” in furthering India-Bangladesh relations and have taken huge strides towards building a multi-faceted relationship which today covers cooperation in almost all sectors.

Both countries amicably resolved maritime and land boundaries.

“Our initiatives to take the bilateral relationship forward in recent years have proven that cooperation can yield the results that our people desire - a win-win dividend for countries as proximate as ours,” said Shringla.