Dhaka global dialogue: ‘‘A new cold war emerging in the region’
As the Indo-Pacific is emerging as a major trading corridor, there should be a rules-based system in place to promote regional development, said policymakers and experts at the Dhaka Global Dialogue yesterday.
They suggested institutional arrangement like European Parliament in the region to frame policies and regulations and ensure their enforcement to promote regional peace and development, while protecting sovereignty of the nation states.
“Global power is shifting to the Indo-Pacific,” said Ram Madhav, general national secretary of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the ruling party of India, at a session titled “The Dhaka Consensus: Growth and Development in the Indo-Pacific”.
Ram Madhav said 50 percent of the global population live in the region, while 60 percent of container shipments happen through the Indian Ocean.
Therefore, it is extremely important to have a rules-based system and allow the small states of the region to have their roles.
“Several factors are important for regional cooperation. Democratic values, good governance and peace,” he said at the session moderated by Observer Research Foundation (India) President Samir Saran.
There shouldn’t be any decision imposed by the major powers, he added.
Referring to the China-led Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Madhav said it has to be based on the principles of consultation and rules.
He said a “new cold war” is emerging in the region, and the 21st century cold war probably will be fought in the Indian Ocean region.
“We have to be on guard against such an occurrance in this region,” Madhav said.
Bangladesh’s State Minister for Foreign Affairs, Shahriar Alam, said Bangladesh is one of the countries that joined the BRI and is also ready to be part of the Indo-Pacific Strategy.
“We look at IPS and BRI from a development perspective, and not that of conflict,” Alam said.
He suggested that a European Union model of cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region is imperative for a rules-based democratic governance.
Australian High Commissioner to Bangladesh, Julia Niblett, said given that the Indo-Pacific is the fastest growing region having a lot of trade opportunities, the countries need to keep in mind the issues of human rights, environment, gender equity, development and governance of institutions.
Some of the challenges include regional security threat, piracy, illegal fishing, and irregular migration that need to be taken into consideration, she said.
Niblett said huge infrastructures will be needed as cooperation grows in regional trade, but all that need to be based on proper feasibility studies; no country should impose any infrastructure and put others into debt trap.
Veerle Nouwens, research fellow at the International Security Studies Department of the Royal United Services Institute in UK, said BRI and IPS should not be antagonised and that the two initiatives are complementary.
Several other sessions, including on climate security and migration, future work and workplaces, health and nutrition, digital community in the Bay of Bengal and norms for a free and open Indo-Pacific were also held.
Policymakers, government officials and academics from the Indo-Pacific region and beyond are attending the dialogue.
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