Hn_Ani2_Bangladesh_Dhaka_Tareq_A_Karim_On_India_Bangladesh_Government_18-07-22

ETVBHARAT

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00:00Whenever there is turbulence between two or three countries in the region,

00:05the process of regional cooperation experiences hiccups.

00:11Regional cooperation means cooperating between more than two countries.

00:17You have to have good bilateral relations with at least three

00:22contiguously located neighbors.

00:26Therefore it is in the interest of all, all the neighbors in the region

00:34to sit with each other and amicably discuss issues.

00:38We should take a lesson out of how ASEAN deals with their interstate relationship.

00:44We can learn of course the lesson from Europe but we are not in Europe, our culture is different.

00:49ASEAN is the closest culture to us.

00:53But we can also learn from what is happening in East Africa, West Africa and Southern Africa.

00:58East African Union is a going concern.

01:02They are at least 50 years ahead of the South Asia region.

01:06We should ask ourselves why they are ahead and we are not.

01:10Remember that the world is going forward.

01:13Even if we do nothing, we are going backwards.

01:17What priorities should the new government focus on to ensure stable India Bangladesh relation?

01:26Re-engage in official conversations as well as re-engage in people to people contacts,

01:36re-energize trade and economic activities.

01:42Without these we will not be able to move forward.

01:46How can Bangladesh balance its national interest while fostering a cooperative partnership with India?

01:54I assume that our national interest must have as a core goal good relations with all our neighbors.

02:06Whether it is with India or it is with Nepal or Bhutan or Sri Lanka which are immediately around us

02:12or with China which is at one stage of separation from us or with the ASEAN which all the countries are Bay of Bengal countries.

02:20I see regional cooperation on a larger scale and frame than we have so far seen.

02:29From SAARC we move to sub-regional cooperation BBIN and BIMSTEC.

02:34I am envisaging taking it even one step further to say that BIMSTEC plus configuration.

02:41Which means all the Bay of Bengal countries that's the seven countries on the Bay of Bengal rim

02:47plus adjacent countries of interest which have an interest in the Bay of Bengal

02:52that is landlocked countries like Nepal and Bhutan

02:57and countries in the ASEAN region like Vietnam, Cambodia etc. Brunei

03:04with whom we have interests should comprise a configuration like Bay of Bengal cooperation

03:12and we should have the two ports of Singapore and Mali as the eastern and western

03:19entrepreneurs of such cooperation.

03:21This will make the Bay of Bengal which has over a quarter of the world's total population

03:30in this region.

03:33Also with the aggregate GDP they will be the fourth largest after USA, China and European Union.

03:44We are all emerging powers in one way or the other and I think together

03:50we will have better bargaining influence in the global discourses.

03:57In final words sir I am asking whether you have started the new initiative

04:05Bay of Bengal initiative under your leadership.

04:08What's the objective of these institutions?

04:10To foster greater cooperation.

04:12I am not talking of an alliance I am talking more in the sense of a fraternity

04:17of the countries of the Bay of Bengal region

04:20who can bring together their respective economic and strategic strengths

04:27and work with each other to further their own national interest but in a collective manner.

04:34I am not talking of an alliance.

04:36So we can start like the European Union started with just what was called

04:42the European Economic Cooperation.

04:45Then it progressed to the European Economic Community.

04:50Then it became the European Community

04:53because from economy it started addressing other issues

04:56and at the final stage it became the European Union.

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