BCIM Corridor (Silk Route) for Regional Trade: A New Ray of Hope for Bangladesh

Recently four countries; Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar (BCIM) have started their discussions on creating a trade forum. The first official level meeting among these four interested countries was held in China at December 21^st. At that meeting the participant countries morally agreed to form an economic corridor from Kunming to Calcutta via Myanmar and Bangladesh. This corridor will be Multi Level Connectivity and the aims and objectives behind the formation of this corridor is “Incensement of trade &business and economic development.

The Inception of BCIM:

To see whether the four nation’s sub-regional connectivity is viable or not, a motor rally was held on February 2013 in India. Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banarjee inaugurated the motor rally on February 22^nd, 2013 at saltlake stadium, Calcutta. The main objective behind this rally was not only the growth in trade and investment but also to increase public outreach. In that very year, Chinese and Indian Prime Ministers met at Delhi and Beijing to discuss about the forum. After that Chinese ministry of commerce sent a draft proposal to the ministries of the participant countries. All the countries provided support for that proposal. The ministry of commerce of Bangladesh gave positive feedback on the proposal too.

BCIM Corridor:

At May 2013, the prime minister of China Li K Chiang came to visit India. In that visit he proposed “BCIM Corridor” for the first time. After that Indian government expressed their interest to form a committee regarding this issue. At the end of that tour, Chinese and Indian Prime minister gave a joint statement. In that statement they expressed satisfaction on the progress that has been made in the BCIM sub-regional forum. On that context, at October 2013 When Indian prime minister Manmohon Singh was travelling to China, he discussed about the improvement of this corridor project. Later China and India agreed to conduct a study on “BCIM Corridor”. When China and India was in sync regarding the corridor, Bangladesh declared that they will also effectively take part in the “BCIM Corridor” study. Myanmar also gave their positive feedback on that regard.

Study on BCIM:

Recently Asia pacific Research & Training Network on Trade has conducted a study on BCIM. Main objective of that study was to find how the countries can be facilitated from BCIM corridor. That study shows that if that corridor becomes effective Bangladesh will be benefitted by 3,120 crore taka of free trade at least. This can be increased to 5,500 crore taka. This corridor will increase the trade among these countries by 44,000 crore taka.

The study conducted by Asia Pacific Research & Training Institute on Trade shows that after BCIM, trade among Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar will be increased by 579 crore $. However for this these countries will have to adopt a trade liberalization policy. If these countries adopt a partial trade liberalization policy, this will help them to increase their trade by 410 crore $. That study also shows that BCIM corridor will help the BCIM countries in an external trade by 380 crore $. If free trade agreement of South Asian region gets connected with BCIM this trade will increase to 1200 crore $.

Bangladesh will be able to benefit itself by the duty free trade of BCIM. The amount of duty free trade Bangladesh is expected to achieve from BCIM is 70 crore $. This will also increase the revenue for Bangladesh.

Among the four countries Bangladesh will be the second profit making country from BCIM after India. From BCIM Bangladesh will be able to enjoy financial benefit of 7 crore $. This is sure a new ray of hope for the trade and business sector of the countries of South Asian region and also for Bangladesh.