29 April 2021, NIICE Commentary 6984
Dr. Rajkumar Singh
Founded in 1999, the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor (BCIM-EC) is a sub-regional/transregional forum for regional co-operation through connectivity and developmental programmes in five areas-trade, infrastructure, capital, investment and people. Initially known as the ‘Kunming Initiative’, it was established with the aim of linking the relatively backward regions stretching from land-locked areas of Southwest China to Eastern India, along with adjoining least developed countries, Bangladesh, Myanmar and the northern region of India. Primarily, it was a track-2 dialogue to create and promote co-operation among different zones, however was expected to work at the intergovernmental level as Track-1 because the four member-countries also formed a Joint Study Group (JSG) for conducting further study and evaluation. Since its inception, they’ve met several times, during the 7th summit held in Dhaka in February 2013, the parties arranged a car rally from Kunming (China) to Kolkata (India), known as K2K to ensure the road transportability of the corridor and as a symbol representing the roadway project of the BCIM. However, despite vast scope of developmental opportunities for all the member countries, in last one decade and more, the interest of its big members has declined as they began to focus on other politico-strategic projects keeping in view the regional and global competition at large. Among the members, especially the rivalry between India and China is well known, within and beyond the region, has made the whole matter more complex especially in the era of globalisation and economic liberalization.
Foundational Objectives
The idea of bringing together a sub-regional organisation like BCIM-EC emerged from China’s Yunnan Province and the area of four-member countries was defined as its zone because a) it is the meeting point of the three markets of China, Southeast Asia and South Asia and connects two major markets of China and India and even the whole of Asia, b) it has rich natural resources and huge potential for large scale development, c) this sub-region is isolated from global markets and relatively poor, and d) all the four members have participated in regional and sub-regional organisations with the aim to integrate into the global economy. The main purpose of the whole process was to develop an area in an ‘economic corridor that ‘indicates the linear connectivity along a physical transportation channel such as road, rail line or waterway within a defined space or location, linking various nodes of production, distribution and consumption, supported by programmes, policies, institutions and agreements that facilitate co-operation between the economic clusters along the corridor route. Even the first meeting of the Joint Study Group (JSG) was of the opinion that to proceed with mutual trust and respect, mutual interest, pragmatism, equitable sharing of benefits and consensus are the essential conditions for its success. In particular, its projects were driven by the economic integration of the sub-region which would also enable the integration of Asia, and the other was the development of the border regions, although, it has also modified its earlier agenda over time from initial three T’s- Trade, Transport and Tourism to TTE-Trade, Transport, and Energy. In this context, it is also to add that the BCIM economic corridor, contains in itself, the vast economic and geographical opportunities for its member countries as well as the surrounding smaller nations of South and Southeast Asia and can be a role model for establishing other such forums in other regions.
Status and Prospects
In a situation where heavyweight regional and global powers are heading towards making alliances and polarisation and their upcoming groups are visible on the horizon, it is futile to hope that their differences will be narrowed down in near future. Keeping this development in consideration, apart from their original agenda of trade, transport and energy the BCIM-EC is also focusing on social, cultural and environmental issues as some members along with experts are of the view that to ensure co-operation among the member countries ‘soft’ agenda should come first to make the forum more feasible and which will have a direct impact on the livelihood and aspirations of the peoples in the borderlands. 2013 is considered as a remarkable year for BCIM-EC ever since its establishment, as the Chinese Premier Li Keqiang visited India and in the joint statement both sides agreed to consult the other parties on establishing a Joint Group on strengthening connectivity in the BCIM region for closer economic, trade and people-to-people linkages and initiating the development of a BCIM Economic Corridor. A return visit was paid by the Indian Prime Minister later in the same year, in October. Subsequently the first meeting of the joint study group was held in the month of December. These developments for the first time indicated that both India and China are ready to work in their common periphery and the understanding between the two provided the organisation a better prospect in coming days and years and if developed properly through co-operation of member countries, it can prove a life-line for the smaller countries of South and Southeast Asia along with enhancing their trade potential and economic opportunities as well.
Challenges Ahead
The year 2013 proved a year of hope for BCIM-EC, it however, is presently, under severe strain facing challenges from various quarters despite the fact that each and every member of the forum has the potential to increase intra-country economic development - Myanmar for primary goods export and abundant cheap labour, India for exporting services, China for manufacturing and export, while Bangladesh for service exports and low-end manufacturing goods. The whole scenario changed with the incoming of Xi Jinping in 2013 and his launching of Belt and Road Initiatives (BRI) and its final adoption in 2015. BRI is a multi-purpose project initiated and financed by the People’s Republic of China for the infrastructural development of poor and developing countries of the world. At present, more than one hundred countries of the world have recognised this project and requested China to start work. Its emergence and speedy recognition by nations has marred the prospect of several regional organisations including the BCIM-EC. This remains as a great challenge for the present and the future as well. Moreover, the recent border standoff between India and China has further strained their relations which will minimize the areas of such economic cooperation in the region.
