Dhaka wants Modi to meet Yunus at BIMSTEC, why is Bangladesh on the path of softening its tone?

The BIMSTEC summit is going to be held in Thailand in the first week of April and Prime Minister Narendra Modi can participate in it. On the sidelines of this summit, Dhaka has started communication with New Delhi to arrange a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Chief Advisor to the interim government of Bangladesh Dr. Muhammad Yunus.

According to Bangladeshi media reports, Bangladesh's Foreign Affairs Advisor Md. Towhid Hossain told news agencies in this regard, 'Efforts are being made to arrange a bilateral meeting between our two leaders on the sidelines of the BIMSTEC summit. We have made diplomatic contacts with India in this regard.' Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to visit Thailand from April 2 to 4. Where he will participate in the sixth BIMSTEC summit in Bangkok. This will be his second visit to Thailand after attending the ASEAN summit in 2019.

The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) seeks cooperation among its member states in seven priority areas. These include security, counter-terrorism and transnational crime, disaster management and energy, trade and economic development, transport connectivity, agriculture and food security, science, technology and innovation, environment and climate change, and people-to-people relations. The BIMSTEC summit is attended by Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand, representing South and Southeast Asia. The forum, led by Thailand, is working towards becoming a ‘Pro BIMSTEC’ or ‘Prosperous, Stable and Open’ region by 2030. The BIMSTEC region is home to over 1.7 billion people and has a combined GDP of US$4.7 trillion. It is impossible to move forward on the path of development without good relations between each member state of BIMSTEC.

An interim government was formed after the fall of the Awami League government in August. And this political upheaval has shaken Bangladesh's deep friendship with India. India has repeatedly protested the increasing atrocities on minorities since the arrest of Chinmoy Prabhu. Although the interim government has criticized India in various ways at various times, Dhaka has somewhat damaged the once good relations. But if we move forward on the path of development, good relations with a powerful country like India in South Asia can easily yield benefits. Despite being present at the UN General Assembly in an atmosphere of unrest, Modi and Yunus could not meet. However, Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar and Bangladesh's Foreign Advisor Mohammad Towhid Hossain spoke about India-Bangladesh bilateral relations. In such a situation, the Yunus government is probably trying to bridge the gap.

BIMSTEC serves as a vehicle for regional engagement for an open, peaceful, prosperous and stable Bay of Bengal region. People working in the field of good relations between regional countries believe that if Bangladesh moves towards dialogue, instead of unnecessarily blaming India, it will be easy to reap benefits.