BIMSTEC

Growing Salience of BIMSTEC : Reconnecting the Bay of Bengal Civilisation Through Trade and Connectivity

If the twentieth century was shaped by the Atlantic and the early twenty-first century witnessed the rise of the Pacific, the coming decades may well belong to the Bay of Bengal. The foundations of that future will not be built solely through trade agreements or infrastructure projects. They will emerge from a shared commitment to connectivity, cooperation and civilisational understanding.

West Bengal's Economic Transformation: A Blueprint for Growth

West Bengal has the resources, talent, culture, and strategic location necessary to become one of India’s most prosperous states. By combining efficient governance, investment-friendly policies, infrastructure development, education, innovation, trade expansion, tourism growth, environmental sustainability, and social inclusion, the state can achieve rapid economic transformation and substantially raise incomes, employment, and overall quality of life.

India’s Balance-of-Payments Challenge: Need for Structural Transformation in Uncertain Times

India possesses immense talent, entrepreneurial capacity, and a large domestic market, yet it still lacks sufficient depth in high-end manufacturing, research and development, semiconductor ecosystems, advanced engineering, and globally dominant product companies.

What Trade Patterns Reveal About South Asia’s Economic Future

One of the most striking features of South Asian trade is how little the region trades internally. Intra-regional trade within South Asia remains among the lowest in the world relative to geographic proximity. Political tensions — especially between India and Pakistan — have prevented the emergence of a deeply integrated regional production system comparable to ASEAN or the European Union.  This is a major missed opportunity.

More on Geoeconomics, Trade and Development

Expert believes China’s military modernization is a threat to global security

Geopolitical analyst Fabien Baussart feels that China's military modernization is a threat to global security

Xi sends condolences to Modi over COVID-19 pandemic in India

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday sent a message of condolences to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the COVID-19 pandemic in the country

Bangladesh to import Chinese Sinopharm vaccine

Bangladesh will ink a contract soon to import the coronavirus vaccine made by China’s Sinopharm, a senior minister said

China, Sri Lanka discuss strengthening bilateral ties, tourism

Visiting Chinese Minister of Defence General Wei Fenghe held discussions on strengthening bilateral ties and tourism with Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa

China to continue strategic cooperation with Bangladesh

China was keen to help Bangladesh in tackling the COVID-19 outbreak and would continue its strategic cooperation in the development of the South Asian nation’s armed forces, according to BSS

China takes lead in regional COVID-19 response as crisis-hit India looks inward

With a crisis-gripped India failing to provide its committed vaccines to neighbors in South Asia, the region seems to be turning towards China for broader pandemic response support

China-led South Asia initiative gets regional support

The region needs active cooperation to effectively respond to the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic like economic recovery and uplifting rural livelihood, said Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena at a meeting on the COVID-19 response, a regional initiative taken by China

Bangladesh seeks vaccine from China; Beijing sets up China-S Asia COVID-19 Platform

With India halting export of Oxford-AstraZaneca vaccine following a massive spike in Covid 19 infection, Bangladesh has now turned to China for the jab, The Daily Star reported

Chinese Defence Minister pays tributes to Bangabandhu

Chinese State Councilor and Defence Minister Wei Fenghe, now on a visit to Bangladesh at a time the two nations are in discussion over COVID-19 vaccine cooperation, paid tributes to the nation’s founder and its first president Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in Dhaka on Tuesday

Chinese Defense Minister on Sri Lanka visit

Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe is into Sri Lanka Tuesday on an official three-day visit

China suspends cargo flights carrying critical medical supplies to India

China's state-run Sichuan Airlines has stopped all its cargo flights to India for the next 15 days, hurting the efforts of the private traders to source the oxygen concentrators and other medical supplies needed to treat the critical cases of COVID-19 even as China offered "support and assistance" to the country to battle the deadly-second wave of the infection, according to media reports

With India's supply uncertain, Bangladesh to join China’s Covid vaccine storage facility

In the wake of uncertainty over getting purchased doses from India, Bangladesh has decided to join China’s COVID-19 vaccine storage facility for South Asia, bdnews24.com reported

Chinese vessel with radioactive material ordered to leave Sri Lanka’s Hambantota port

Sri Lanka officials have asked a Chinese vessel that was carrying radioactive material to leave Hambantota port immediately, reported Newswire

China’s Exim Bank may fund $6.8 billion rail project in Pakistan

The Chinese government has sent a final funding proposal for Pakistan’s $6.8 billion modern rail project, ML-1, to the Exim Bank of China, as per a report in The Express Tribune

China offers six million doses of Sinopharm to Bangladesh

As Bangladesh struggles to procure vaccines, Sinopharm, the Chinese drug firm, has offered to provide six million doses of its COVID-19 vaccines to the country, a report in The Daily Star said