India - Malidives
Infrastructure and connectivity initiatives between India and Bhutan have the potential to bring economic growth.
The decision by India and Bhutan to focus on infrastructure and connectivity during talks between the leaders of both nations.
It is an important marker towards more bilaterally driven regional initiatives.
A joint statement speaks of completing surveys for the Kokrajhar-Gelephu rail link that connects Bhutan to Assam.
Another Bhutan to West Bengal rail link, while also facilitating Bhutan-Bangladesh trade.
One more rail link, and upgrading checkpoints along the India-Bhutan border.
These plans foretell a future that could well change the development story of the region, including West Bengal and the northeast, Bhutan’s south and east dzongkhags (districts), as well as Northern Bangladesh.
The new project proposed by the king, to build a Special Economic Zone at Bhutan’s southern border with Assam, and an airport at Gelephu, are expected to drive growth and investment to the kingdom.
India’s “energy exchange”, which is bringing more Bhutanese and Nepali hydropower suppliers online, while planning to distribute energy to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
This would also power New Delhi’s attempt at bridging the economic gap with the northeast, while drawing development partners like the World Bank and donor countries like Japan into the creation of a “sub-regional hub”.
In the longer term, geopolitical conflicts and anti-globalisation trends are forcing regional groupings to be more cohesive, something South Asia has not been able to achieve as yet.
As India worries about China’s push into South Asian trade, infrastructure projects and strategic ties, including concerns over a Bhutan-China boundary agreement’s overhang over Doklam and India’s “Chicken Neck” (Siliguri Corridor) route,
These are ideas which will offer more security and prosperity for the countries involved, with particular benefits for Bhutan, India’s traditionally trusted partner in the region.
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