Indian officials say in the Khaleda Zia period, anti-Indian feeling ran so high that all proposals from Delhi were discredited. One such proposal is for Indian trucks to transit through Bangladesh all the way to India’s north-eastern states. So far, though, Dhaka has not permitted this.
Similarly, an Indian request to upgrade the Chittagong port and use it as a hub for the region was summarily rejected. Eventually, Delhi persuaded the military government in Myanmar to allow India to build, use and operate the Sittwe port on the Bay of Bengal, via the Kaladan waterway that connects Mizoram to Sittwe.
“Bangladesh lost out to Myanmar because we were not willing to join India in creating these commonalities,’’ the Bangladeshi official added.
Farooq Sobhan, former foreign secretary and president of the Bangladesh Enterprise Institute, a think tank, said Bangladesh should convert its geostrategic location into its hottest selling point. “Bangladesh’s biggest strength has always been its geographical location, since we connect South Asia to South-East Asia. That is why it is crucial to develop the Chittagong port, which has the potential to serve as a regional port not only for Bangladesh, but also Nepal, Bhutan, and north-east India,’’ Sobhan added.
Part 4: Bhutan
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