Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar Cooperation Forum Begins In Bangladesh

The Center for Policy Dialogue, an independent Bangladesh think tank, organized the two-day program. Government officials and private sector representatives from the BCIM countries - Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar - are taking part in the forum to be concluded on Sunday. Those representatives include 32 from China, six from India and four from Burma, officially known as Myanmar,

"The people will be benefited socially and economically if the regional cooperation gets momentum in the changing globalized era," Finance and Commerce Advisor of Bangladesh Dr. Mirza Azizul Islam told the inaugural session of the forum on regional cooperation at the BRAC Center in Dhaka.

He also stressed the need for searching for acceptable regional cooperation, including economic cooperation, through research to make such cooperation meaningful.

The forum called for duty-free access of Bangladeshi products to Indian and Chinese markets to help offset huge trade deficit the country suffers with the major trading partners.

"Bangladesh faces a huge trade deficit with India and China. It should be narrowed down," CPD Executive Director Dr. Debapriya Bhattacharya told reporters after the inaugural session.

The inaugural session was told that a car rally would be arranged among the BCIM member countries in November next to demonstrate the possible areas of cooperation.

"A survey will be conducted to oversee the real scenario of the road communications for arranging the car rally by the second week of April," Prof. Mustafizur Rahman, Research Director of the CPD, told AHN in Dhaka.

He also said the organizers are hopeful about arranging the car rally in time.

Deputy secretary general of Yunnan Provincial Government Che Zhimin, governing board member of Center for Policy Research of India Eric Gonsalves and Deputy Foreign Minister of Myanmar Maung Myint addressed the function, chaired by CPD Chairman Prof. Rehman Sobhan.

Sources: ALLHEADLINENEWS