about chicken neck. The distance between Agartala and Kolkata is over 1600 kms. In comparison the distance between Agartala and the nearest sea port in Bangladesh at Chittigong is 100 kms.

 

Landlocked countries and landlocked regions within countries depend totally on transit facilities provided by bordering neighbors for their domestic and international trade. In South Asia not only the Northeastern Indian states but also Bhutan and Nepal are landlocked countries. Both Nepal and Bhutan and the Northeastern Indian states’ trade also depend on neighbors’ transit facilities. However, inter regional conflicts and political mistrust were the barriers of trade in this region. In a recent regional economical summit, the commerce minister of Bangladesh gave an extraordinary speech. In his lecture, he said that, “Over the period, trade has been used as a political weapon denying the benefit to our common people. We need to get out of this unhealthy practice. We should keep trade and economic cooperation above politics.” A week after this summit, The Washington post published news that, Pakistan grants India a `most favored nation’ trade status. In this news item, it said that Pakistani military authority has dropped their objection to build up trade relation with India so the Pakistan government has taken this decision.  In the 17th SAARC summit we have already seen that in sideline meetings between Prime Minister of India and Pakistan agreements on trade relations have also been reached.

 

India - Bangladesh Bilateral Initiative India and Bangladesh agreed for various bilateral trade initiatives during Indian premier Dr Manmohan Singh’s visit to Dhaka where Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was present. The joint statement released on 7th September 2011 narrated various steps taken for the benefit of people from both the countries. Those included the opening of Banglabandha-Fulbari Land Port for bilateral trade, inauguration of the border Haat in Baliamari (Kurigram)-Kalaichar (West Garo Hills) and the proposed in Balat (East Khasi Hills)-Dalora (Sunamganj), permission of passage of ODC cargo for the Palatana power project in Tripura, operationalisation of Ashuganj and Silghat as additional Ports of Call under the bilateral Inland Water Transit and Trade Protocol, proposed railway infrastructure at the border point between Agartala and Akhaura, proposal for using Chittagong and Mongla seaports for movement of goods to and from India through water, opening of a Deputy High Commission of Bangladesh in Mumbai, proposal for  India-Bangladesh Culture Centre in Dhaka etc.

South Asian countries, especially India are now opting for regional cooperation for the sake of economy and trade. In the framework of SAARC they are trying to settle many economical and trade issues through bilateral or multilateral cooperation. This all started in 2009 when the reins of power in Bangladesh were taken over by Sheikh Hasina. The Sheikh Hasina government at Dhaka is trying its best to bring about regional economic and trade cooperation. The mindset of the Manmohan Government is also along these same lines. For the first time India has given Bangladesh the opportunity to start trade with Nepal and Bhutan through the use of Indian land.  On the other hand Bangladesh has agreed to give transit facility for the landlocked North East Indian states. Besides that, Bangladesh wanted a fruitful and long-term trade and economical relation with North East India. North East India has a lot of natural resources while on the other hand Bangladesh has two very convenient sea ports besides road, river and railway transit. These two sea ports and the road and rail transits can be the main factor for the economical change of the landlocked Indian states and Bangladesh. However, now the main problem is building up transit infrastructure in Bangladesh. Bangladesh has to develop its ports and build up its roads and railways. This is where Bangladesh needs money. In this case India has to provide soft loans to Bangladesh which can be used in building infrastructure in its transit sector. India should not look at such a loan as a loss. India needs to remember that in 1990 to 99 the Indian Central Government’s allocation was 600 billion dollars for these seven landlocked states. However, results have not been up to the mark rather, they have been poor. Indian diplomat and economist, Muchkund Dubey had attended the economical summit in Bangladesh and there he had also emphasized the need to build up infrastructure for transit. He says that India has granted a 1 billion dollar loan to Bangladesh but this is nothing. He is of the opinion that India has to grant five to ten billion to Bangladesh for building up infrastructure. If we look towards the future, we can surmise that Mr. Dubey is thinking along the right lines. The result of the 6 billion dollars allocated to the North East states of India between 1990 and 99 speaks for itself. As an example, Assam has set up sugar, jute and paper mills but this has not been successful because these could not be set it up in a large scale manner. If Assam were to get transit facility through Bangladesh then Assam can set up these kinds of mills on a large scale. Assam could produce sugar, jute goods and paper on a large scale and this can be supplied to the whole of India and Bangladesh. In such a scenario, the dividends will be two pronged; not only will the state make money from Bangladesh and mainland India, the development of the landlocked state will also receive a major fillip. This is a Win -Win situation for India.

 

North East India has huge hydro-electric potential estimated at 40,000 MW. To produce this power, an investment of more than 400 billion dollars is required. If this landlocked area gets a transit facility then USA and other rich countries will definitely show interest in making investments here. Bangladesh needs more than 20,000 MW of electricity by the year 2025. Bangladesh will get the opportunity to invest in electricity in North East India besides which it will also get the opportunity to buy electricity from North East India. These advantages are not limited to the sugar, jute, paper and electricity sectors. If the private sector is given a free hand, it will definitely come up with many new avenues. Considering these obvious benefits it can be said that regional cooperation and transit infrastructure is the need of the hour for North East India and Bangladesh.