Deep sea port project: Govt urged not to take sides in India-China rivalry

Academics, economists, researchers and former ambassadors on Saturday said Bangladesh should not wait anymore over building the deep sea port and could come up with nuanced plan for the betterment of the nation, setting regime interest aside.
They, while addressing a discussion on ‘Bangladesh in the Region: India, NE India, Nepal, Myanmar, China’, said that Bangladesh should avoid taking sides in the rivalry between China and India, or any major power, and urged the government to be bold in starting up the deep sea port project.
‘There is no need to put all our eggs in one basket, whether it is a Chinese or Indian basket. We will do what is best for our national interest. We could even make it through a consortium,’ Faruk Sobhan of Bangladesh Enterprise Institute said.
Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies arranged the two-day seminar titled ‘the Bangladesh Journey’ at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in Dhaka.
With Debapriya Bhattacharya, distinguished fellow of Centre for Policy Dialogue, in the chair Faruk Sobhan, Bangladesh Enterprise Institute, Delwar Hossain, professor of the department of International Relations at the University of Dhaka and former ambassador Mohammaed Zamir took part in the discussion as panelists. BIDS senior research fellow Mohammad Yunus presented keynote paper.
They said unresolved issues, particularly the Rohingya issue with Myanmar and Teesta issue with India, should be resolved bilaterally for resolving domestic issues particularly on building the deep sea post and dispute over the Korean Export Processing Zone should resolved for strengthening regional cooperation and attracting investment.
Debapriya said that under the long shadow of India and China, Bangladesh will have to learn soft diplomacy without antagonising both sides.
Professor Delwar Hossain said that Bangladesh’s interests with the region are determined by geopolitical, geo-economic and regime interest.
‘Regime interest is a trap and Bangladesh has been trapped for decades… Mingling geopolitical interest and geo-economic interest with regime interest, our country is losing opportunities and it makes the country’s policies ineffective,’ he added.
Mohammaed Zamir said that if the country wants to have investment then the issue of KEPZ should be resolved.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net