GROWING IMPORTANCE OF BIMSTEC

It may be recalled that even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi was set to sign a maritime transport cooperation pact at the BIMSTEC summit in Bangkok, Bangladesh Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus's recent claim that his country was the “only” guardian of the ocean in the region had created quite a stir.

- Robin Roy The writer is Senior Journalist and former Managing Editor, First India

This Yunus had said in his first foreign visit to China recently and Yunus had even claimed that India's northeast, on the border with China, was “landlocked”, and thus he urged Beijing to make Dhaka an “ex-tension of the Chinese econo-my”, building, producing, and marketing all goods for China and the world”.

By highlighting the “land-locked” nature of India's north-eastern states and positioning Dhaka as their “guardian” of ocean access, Yunus was des-perately trying to highlight Bangladesh's strategic position especially at a time when the interim government was tread-ing a bumpy path with chal-lenges galore.