Four-nation forum kicks off in Dhaka next week

Centre, Prof Mustafizur Rahman, executive director of the Centre for Policy Dialogue, speaks in a press briefing in Dhaka yesterday to announce that the local think-tank will organise the 11th BCIM Forum in partnership with the Canadian High Commission and Germany's Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung.Photo: STAR

About 50 analysts from Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar will gather in Dhaka next week to discuss ways and opportunities to deepen cooperation and integration in one of the fastest growing regions in the world.
Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), a local think tank, will organise the meeting on 23-24 February in partnership with the High Commission of Canada and Germany's Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung.
The theme of the upcoming 11th BCIM (Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar) Forum is "Recent developments in BCIM countries: new opportunities and new challenges for BCIM cooperation."
The Dhaka forum will focus on cooperation in the areas of trade, investment and finance, multimodal connectivity, energy and institutional arrangements, said CPD Executive Director Prof Mustafizur Rahman.
"The forum seeks to be built on the achievements of the past ten gatherings," he told reporters at a briefing at the CPD office in Dhaka.
The economist said the BCIM region, with a market of 2.8 billion people and a GDP of $9.3 trillion in 2011, is going through critically important changes which have far-reaching consequences for the regional countries and also wider world.
"This is particularly so in view of the emergence of China and India as two key players in the global economic scenario, and also the new developments in Myanmar."
Rahman said Bangladesh's unique geographical location offers new possibilities and opportunities of cooperation.
"In the context of these emerging trends and developments, the Dhaka event will be a unique opportunity to discuss bottlenecks and explore new avenues of deepening cooperation and integration."
The CPD analyst also said the Dhaka forum would be an opportunity to search for institutionalisation of the cooperation among the four countries to strengthen and accelerate the process of economic integration of the region.
Rahman also said a distinctive feature of the forum is that it would coincide with a car rally from Kolkata to Kunming.
The rally with the theme -- Building Bonds, Fostering Friendship -- will start from Kolkata of India on February 22 and reach Kunming of China on March 5.
About 80 people from the BCIM countries will participate in the rally, which will pass through Bangladesh on February 23-24.
The CPD will accord a reception to the participants at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in Dhaka on February 23.
The forum aims to identify concrete projects in selected areas to promote economic cooperation, identify modalities of cooperation among key stakeholders, to foster and promote cooperation among private sector and explore ways to strengthen institutional architecture of cooperation.
Foreign Minister Dipu Moni will open the event.
About 48 delegates from China, India and Myanmar will take part in the event. The delegations from China will be led by Shen Peiping, vice governor of Yunnan province, India by Ambassador Eric Gonsalves, and Myanmar by Ambassador of the country to Bangladesh Myo Myint Than.
Anisatul Fatema Yousuf, director of the dialogue and communication division of the CPD, and Fahmida Khatun, a research director, were also present at the press briefing.