The India-EU-Bangladesh connectivity partnership

The Global Gateway Conference was recently organized in Meghalaya by India and the EU. India and the European Union joined together to carry out initiatives to improve connectivity between Bangladesh, Nepal, and Bhutan and the states of India’s North Eastern region.

The India-EU Connectivity Conference was held in Meghalaya during the first week of this month and was organized by the EU envoy to India, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), and the Indian think tank Asian Confluence. A representative of Bangladesh attended the meeting. Earlier, the Asian Confluence Think Tank sponsored a gathering in Tripura where Bangladesh, India, and Japan discussed connectivity plans to maximize the region’s economic potential.

How did Bangladesh come to be so crucial to both nations that they are conducting meetings and harping on the concerns nonstop?

The Northeast of India is crucial to the EU and India’s participation in the Indo-Pacific Plan. In contrast, Bangladesh is essential to India’s northeast. Bangladesh must thus be involved in the collaboration between India and the EU. The northeastern area is essential for India and the EU in preserving multilateral connections since it shares borders with many other countries, including Nepal, Bhutan, China, Myanmar, and Bangladesh.

The extensive partnership between India, the EU, and Bangladesh also provides the landlocked northeast with access to the Bay of Bengal and ASEAN countries, which is crucial for realizing the region’s enormous potential for growth and prosperity based on improved access to the Indian Ocean and for enhancing the quality of life for its residents. Due to its lack of access to the Indian Ocean, the northeastern part of the country is landlocked.

Japan and India have also been working closely together to support the development of the Northeastern area via the India-Japan Act East Forum. The plan seeks for bringing India closer to countries along the Mekong River System including Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam while also cutting costs and enhancing connectivity. India’s northeastern region cannot be connected to the interior of the nation without Bangladesh. The European Union and northeastern India couldn’t become more connected without connectivity via Bangladesh.

The objective of the conference

The conference’s objective was to examine connectivity investments and identify specific projects for implementation under the India-EU Connectivity Partnership, which was announced during the leaders’ summit between India and the EU in May 2021, in India’s North Eastern States and with its neighbors (Nepal, Bhutan, and Bangladesh). The conference was launched by Dr. Rajkumar Ranjan Singh, the minister of state for foreign affairs, and Conrad Kongkal Sangma, the chief minister of Meghalaya. In his lecture, Dr. Rajkumar Ranjan Singh underlined the need of connection initiatives on both a national and international level as part of India’s Development Partnership. He also emphasized the tremendous opportunities for India-EU Triangular Development Cooperation in South

Asia and the Indo-Pacific.

Japan and the EU may be interested in India’s North Eastern states to counteract Chinese influence in the Indo-Pacific area. None of those attempts will be effective if Bangladesh is not connected. The development of an industrial value chain that links the Bay of Bengal to the Northeast would be very beneficial to Bangladesh’s economy. Through such a collaboration, Bangladesh and India’s northeastern regions are intended to attract investments from established industrial centres in Southeast Asian countries like Thailand. Due to growing salaries, manufacturers are now forced to look for possibilities abroad.

Without Bangladesh, India and the EU are unable to oversee development projects or build a supply network in northeast India. When it comes to the northeast, India has always benefited from Bangladesh. Bangladesh has always backed India, whether it is in economic or security-related problems. Bangladesh is essential to the development of the northeast and India-EU relationships, hence India must be cautious in its bilateral relations with Bangladesh.

The writer is a researcher and columnist