Historic connectivity deal by four nations

The transport ministers of four South Asian countries --Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal (BBIN)--have formally signed at Thimpu, Bhutan on Monday the historic Motor Vehicle Agreement (MVA) for the regulation of passenger, personal and cargo vehicular traffic amongst them.
The four nations have been identified as a sub-regional grouping, BBIN, within the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) in recent years. As a matter of fact, the idea of the MVA was forcefully put up for consideration and acceptance at the last held SAARC summit meeting but could not go through because of Pakistan’s resistance to it. Later, Bangladesh became the driving force for the adoption of the MVA among the BBIN countries. Thus, Monday’s signing of the MVA marks as much a success of Bangladesh’s tenacious policy in the matter as much as it also reflects the collective farsightedness of the BBIN countries to that end.
The agreement will promote safe, economical efficient and environmentally sound road transport in the sub-region and will further help each country in creating an institutional mechanism for regional integration. BBIN countries will be benefited by mutual cross border movement of passenger and goods for overall economic development of the region. The people of the four countries will benefit through seamless movement of goods and passenger across borders.
The laying of the infrastructures for the four nations road connectivity would require an estimated $8 billion. Each country will bear its own costs of building infrastructures within its territories. But each government would be able to count on liberal assistance from the donors in the matter. World Bank (WB), Asian Development Bank (ADB), Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and others are strongly expected to provide funds towards building the physical capacities that would be needed for the full fledged functioning of the four nations connectivity system within the projected time of five years.
The plan is to ultimately identify and develop 30 corridors for intraregional travel between the four countries. Opened initially for travels of the residents of the four countries, the corridors would be aimed for transforming into economic corridors for transport of cargoes that could potentially increase intraregional trade in the BBIN area by as much as 60 per cent, according to experts. There would be a revolution in people-to-people contact, tourism, trade and investment in the entire BIBN area. The four countries should also gain from collecting various fees and charges for use of roads though these would be fixed in phases at later dates.

Historic connectivity deal by four nations

The transport ministers of four South Asian countries --Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal (BBIN)--have formally signed at Thimpu, Bhutan on Monday the historic Motor Vehicle Agreement (MVA) for the regulation of passenger, personal and cargo vehicular traffic amongst them. The four nations have been identified as a sub-regional grouping, BBIN, within the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) in recent years. As a matter of fact, the idea of the MVA was forcefully put up for consideration and acceptance at the last held SAARC summit meeting but could not go through because of Pakistans resistance to it. Later, Bangladesh became the driving force for the adoption of the MVA among the BBIN countries. Thus, Mondays signing of the MVA marks as much a success of Bangladeshs tenacious policy in the matter as much as it also reflects the collective farsightedness of the BBIN countries to that end. The agreement will promote safe, economical efficient and environmentally sound road transport in the sub-region and will further help each country in creating an institutional mechanism for regional integration. BBIN countries will be benefited by mutual cross border movement of passenger and goods for overall economic development of the region. The people of the four countries will benefit through seamless movement of goods and passenger across borders. The laying of the infrastructures for the four nations road connectivity would require an estimated $8 billion. Each country will bear its own costs of building infrastructures within its territories. But each government would be able to count on liberal assistance from the donors in the matter. World Bank (WB), Asian Development Bank (ADB), Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and others are strongly expected to provide funds towards building the physical capacities that would be needed for the full fledged functioning of the four nations connectivity system within the projected time of five years. The plan is to ultimately identify and develop 30 corridors for intraregional travel between the four countries. Opened initially for travels of the residents of the four countries, the corridors would be aimed for transforming into economic corridors for transport of cargoes that could potentially increase intraregional trade in the BBIN area by as much as 60 per cent, according to experts. There would be a revolution in people-to-people contact, tourism, trade and investment in the entire BIBN area. The four countries should also gain from collecting various fees and charges for use of roads though these would be fixed in phases at later dates.