India embarks on sub-regional transit corridor development path

Second ministerial meeting for such corridor will be held next month; two more such agreements will be pursued

A couple of months back, the 18th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit in Kathmandu almost ground to a halt before frenetic last-minute negotiations salvaged the situation somewhat. Leaving this behind, India now has embarked on a strategy to build seamless sub-regional transit corridors that Saarc nations collectively have failed to agree upon.

A meeting for the first such corridor was held earlier this month between transport officials of what is called the BBIN (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal) nations.

While this will be followed up with a ministerial meeting next month, India will simultaneously pursue two more such agreements, one with Myanmar and Thailand and the other with Afghanistan. The chosen venue for the ministerial meeting next month is likely to be Thimphu in Bhutan.

Besides facilitating transit, the four BBIN countries went through a shelf of 28 road projects with an estimated cost of $8 billion for better connectivity.

All these projects are being funded by the Asian Development Bank, Vijay Chhibber, secretary, road transport and highways told Business Standard.

The interim arrangement between the four countries has been titled “Motor Vehicles Agreement for the Regulation of Passenger, Personal, and Cargo Vehicular Traffic between Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, and Nepal (BBIN)” or the MVA agreement. In the eventuality that future SAARC conclaves fail to reach conclusive ends, BBIN countries would have already agreed to work on a draft framework agreement for inter-nation cooperation on roads and transportation.

“The MVA agreement involves a road map of future sub-regional road projects in the BBIN countries. We have to look at facilitating the ease of movement of people and cargo with our neighbours so that it is mutually beneficial,” said Chhibber.

Apart from the current MVA agreement that is being worked out, India is also looking at establishing a transit arrangement with Afghanistan.

Currently, India’s territorial access to Afghanistan for goods movement is blocked due to Pakistan’s presence between the two nations. Pakistan, on the other hand, is dependent on Afghanistan to access Central Asia and beyond.

With a transit agreement between India and Afghanistan in place, both countries would benefit from trade, the latter even more so.

The framework for India, Myanmar and Thailand corridor is likely to be discussed in Chennai. Besides promoting tourism, Chhibber said the corridors would help promote trade from India which is the biggest economy in this region.

During the BBIN meeting, possible institutional structures for implementing and monitory MVA was discussed.

The proposal included setting up National Land Transport Facilitation Committees in each country and a Joint Land Transport Facilitation Committee.