Bangladesh’s Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus has called for a joint economic strategy involving India’s northeastern states, Nepal, Bhutan, and Bangladesh, underlining the need for regional cooperation in hydropower, healthcare, and road connectivity.
“There should be an integrated economic plan for Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and the Seven Sisters,” Yunus said, referring to India’s northeastern states. “We have more to gain together than apart.”
He made the remarks during a meeting with Indira Rana, Deputy Speaker of Nepal’s House of Representatives, who is in Dhaka for an event hosted by the Nepal Embassy.
One of the key focus areas was regional energy cooperation, especially hydropower. Yunus and Rana discussed the Bangladesh-Nepal-India tripartite agreement signed in October last year, under which Bangladesh is importing 40 MW of power from Nepal using Indian transmission lines. Both sides agreed there was room for larger-scale hydropower projects.
Yunus also said that Bangladesh is committed to expanding access to healthcare for neighbouring countries. “Our upcoming 1,000-bed hospital in Rangpur will be open to patients from Nepal and Bhutan as well. We believe in regional health security and shared prosperity,” he added.
Rana expressed Nepal’s interest in stronger bilateral ties and said, “All our parliamentarians want to work closely with Bangladesh. We’re serious about strengthening our economic partnership and boosting people-to-people connections.”
She pointed to the presence of more than 2,700 Nepali students in Bangladesh, mostly in medical colleges, and called for more educational exchanges and academic cooperation.
The two sides also discussed the need to improve direct road links to lower trade costs and ease the movement of goods and people across the region.
YUNUS’S RECENT REMARK ON INDIA’S NORTHEAST
Muhammad Yunus has referred to India’s Northeast on more than one occasion in the past couple of months. During his China visit in March, Yunus had made a pitch to Beijing that included India’s seven northeastern states. While urging Beijing to establish an economic foothold in Bangladesh by leveraging its strategic position as the “only guardian of the ocean” in the region, Yunus said, “The seven states of India, the eastern part of India, are called the Seven Sisters. They are a landlocked region of India. They have no way to reach out to the ocean.”
“So this opens up a huge possibility. This could be an extension of the Chinese economy,” Yunus further said.
The remark had drawn a sharp reaction from Indian leaders. Experts had also flagged that China’s growing influence in its immediate neighbourhood would be of concern to India. Bangladesh is of strategic importance to India, and several places in the country are close to the Siliguri Corridor, also referred to as the Chicken’s Neck, a tiny strip of land that connects the northeast states to the rest of India.