Thailand agrees to link Bangladesh with ASEAN states
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENT
Thailand has agreed to allow Bangladesh to connect by road with it and other countries belonging to Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) through BCIM (Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar) corridor. The connectivity can be materialised thorough connecting BCIM with North-South and East-West ASEAN corridors involving countries like Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Singapore, China and Myanmar. Both North-South and East-West ASEAN corridors end in the South Chinese city of Kunming and BCIM corridor also ends in Kunming. So, once the BCIM corridor is materialised, it will be connected with ASEAN corridors, Permanent Secretary to Thai Foreign Ministry Norachit Sinhaseni told a joint briefing at state guest house Padma after the first ever Foreign Office Consultations between the two countries yesterday. Once you materialise the BCIM corridor, you can go all the way to Vietnam or Singapore, he said.
Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque led the Bangladesh delegation to the talks that largely focused on connectivity, trade and investment. Linking BCIM with ASEAN corridors will enhance trade and commerce significantly. This was the first discussion of this kind, Haque said. Both sides also agreed to create a joint working group to look into all the aspects including technical feasibility, he informed. Bangladesh further proposed connectivity between Chittagong and Mongla Ports and Ranong Port of Thailand, said the foreign secretary, adding that Thailand agreed to welcome this. Dhaka also proposed air-connectivity between Bangkok and Coxs Bazar to promote bilateral trade, investment and tourism, especially Buddhist Circuit Tourism.
At the meeting, the foreign secretary welcomed the decision of the Thai government to give duty free quota free (DFQF) access to 6,998 tariff lines for the developing countries and requested to include additional 15 items in the list. Thai Permanent Secretary Sinhaseni assured to consider it positively in the next DFQF review. The two sides also agreed to create a Joint Working Group (JWG) on Investment and JWG on Health Services and Bangladesh proposed to host the first meetings of both the JWGs.
It was agreed that an MOU between the Bangladesh Accreditation Board (BAB) and the Thai Industrial Standards Institute (TISI) would be finalised. About employment of Bangladeshi workers in Thailand, the Thai envoy told a questioner that Bangladeshis will be employed in fisheries and construction sector on demand and supply basis. On trans-national crimes including human and drug trafficking and money laundering, it was agreed that to establish an effective collaboration between the Department of Special Investigations (DSI) of Thailand and the Special Branch of Bangladesh and to combat trans-national crimes, an MOU could be signed. They also agreed to establish a bilateral forum to address issues related to trans-national crimes. When asked if Thailand believes that granting citizenship to Myanmars Rohingya population will solve the problem related to irregular migration, the Thai permanent secretary declined to come up with a straight answer. According to officials at the foreign ministry, the instruments are likely to be signed during the visit of Thai foreign minister later this year. The Thai minister will be here to lead his country to the 7th Joint Commission Meeting in Dhaka. Bangladesh team will be lead by its foreign minister. Around the same time, the 4th meeting of the Joint Trade Committee (JTC), headed by the commerce ministers of the two countries, might be held.
