BBIN to play crucial role: foreign minister
Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen yesterday said regional connectivity will be a major instrument in promoting economic development in the South Asian region, and the Bangladesh-Bhutan-India-Nepal (BBIN) initiative for motor vehicle movement can play crucial role in enhancing trade and commerce among the four countries.
He was addressing a seminar on “Bangladesh-Bhutan-India-Nepal Regional Cooperation: Prospect and Reality” at Jatiya Press Club yesterday evening. Bangladesh Study Trust organised the discussion with its General Secretary Dr Mamun Al Mahtab in the chair.
“We have made substantial progress in cross-border energy cooperation with India and it helps us address the problem of energy deficiency,” he said.
The minister also stressed early implementation of BBIN Motor Vehicle Agreement and hoped Bhutan will resolve its internal procedure to make the sub-regional deal effective.
Former ambassador MA Hannan in his keynote paper said Saarc is “in a coma”, due to tensions between India and Pakistan. In the last few years, intra-Saarc trade was around four to five percent, which is much lower than trade in other regional groupings like EU, Nafta and Asean.
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