- India and China have taken the first step towards pushing forward an ambitious corridor linking the two countries with Bangladesh and Myanmar, as representatives from the four nations held the first ever official-level discussions about the project recently.
- For the first time the four nations have come up with a schedule/timeline on taking the plan forward.
- The corridor would run from Kunming (Chinese city which borders Myanmar) to Kolkata, linking Mandalay in Myanmar as well as Dhaka and Chittagong in Bangladesh.
- The plan would “advance multi-modal connectivity, harness the economic interests, promote investment and trade and facilitate people-to-people contacts.
- The recent talks saw the four countries come up with an ambitious proposal that included developing multi-modal transport, such as road, rail, waterways and airways, joint power projects and telecommunication networks.
- The BCIM project was also discussed during the Chinese Premier Li’s meet to India recently. The corridor would not only boost strategic ties with India, but also as a means to inject vitality into its landlocked south-western provinces, which have the highest poverty rates in China.
Way forward:
- As a first step, the four countries will identify realistic and achievable infrastructure projects to boost physical connectivity. Over the next six months, each country will come up with a joint study report proposing concrete projects and financing modalities, before the next meeting of the four nations in June 2014, hosted by Bangladesh.
- The hope is that before the holding of the third joint study meeting, in India towards the end of 2014, the four countries would have agreed upon a cooperation framework including modalities of ‘financing projects’ that will pave the way for the actual implementation.
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