In a globalised world, regional co-operations are forged for two reasons, to strengthen ties among neighbours and to create trade plus cultural platforms to ensure improved economic co-operation buffeted by trade related advantages. Bangladesh, as a country with a steady economic growth, looks forward to middle income status in the next five to seven years, but this achievement will remain elusive if the country cannot receive advantages from the many forums of which she is a member. We are a founding member of SAARC, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), though realistically speaking, the regional platform is caught in a morass due to fraught India – Pakistan relations. The last SAARC was not held, there is no clear indication as to when this may be held in the future and there is considerable stonewalling when questions are asked about the efficacy of this forum to clear deadwood among countries to make it effective.
There are other platforms: BIMSTEC, BBIM and BCIM. These were unveiled with much fanfare though what these can bring to Bangladesh is still opaque. There is a feeling that such bodies are formed simply to create a cabal against certain other countries with no significant objective to actually implement the lofty goals that they seem to propagate.
As any lay person can see, none of these co-operations are bringing any tangible benefit for Bangladesh. We are not seeing any advantage as such which may be helping our economy or supporting us to tackle many challenges like energy crisis, human suffering due to natural disaster or the opening of new frontier in trade and business.
The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) signed a framework agreement in 2006, but so far, efforts to have a free trade agreement signed have proved futile. None of the other platforms have made any notable progress.
At this point, there may be a feeling that such platforms only give hollow promises which just flounder over time. Already, members of the intelligentsia in Bangladesh have asked as to what we are getting in exchange for the privileges awarded to our neighbour. There is a feeling that in the recent India trip, we did not get pledges for any concession.
Against such misgivings about bi-lateral relations, the larger picture of regional cooperation looks bleak. The truth remains, unless Indo-Pak relations see a thaw, all platforms will only remain forums in print and nothing more.