Bangladesh's Foreign Minister has said the development of India's northeastern states would also benefit his country as the land-locked region holds huge economic potentials that remain to be tapped.
"The northeastern India is enriched with its natural resources and Bangladesh could import raw materials from there to manufacture products in low price to be exported abroad including India, benefiting both the countries," Abul Hassan Mahmud Ali said yesterday.
"The abundance of natural resources in India's northeast region has huge economic potentials that remained to be tapped...Due to our geographical contiguity, we are in the best position to do so," he told a meeting on India-Bangladesh ties hosted by Bangladesh History Congress here.
The minister said Bangladesh enjoys a natural and historic relation with India's northeastern states. During the 1971 Liberation War, Tripura, Meghalaya and Assam alone offered refuge to millions of Bengalis to evade atrocities at the hands of Pakistani troops.
Indian High Commissioner in Dhaka Pankaj Saran and several academics from northeastern states joined the meeting where Ali said steps were underway to establish railway and road links with the northeastern India as it appeared a crucial conduit between South and Southeastern Asian nations.
Originating from Kolkata, the proposed Bangladesh-China- India-Myanmar (BCIM) economic corridor is set to pass through the northeastern states and eventually go up to China's Yunnan province.
Ali said Bangladesh allowed cargo transportation to Palatana Power Plant in Tripura through its territory to develop their electricity infrastructure and in exchange India agreed to provide 100-mw power.
He said works were underway for joint initiatives in hydroelectricity for mutual benefit while India already expressed its willingness to offer its surplus petroleum to Bangladesh through pipelines.
Ali said the experience of the limited number of border trading points on the northeastern frontiers, which were operating for the past several years, suggested these makeshift commercial centres could play a crucial role in strengthening bilateral economic cooperation.
The Indian envoy said a visit to Dhaka by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh along with the chief ministers of Indian states bordering Bangladesh in 2012 was significant in developing bilateral ties.
Indian business leaders earlier said there was a huge market worth USD 20 billion for Bangladesh in the northeastern Indian states alone, while the cost of business between this region and the rest of India is very high because of the distance.
