- By Talibuddin Khan
- Thu, 03 Apr 2025 01:59 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
BIMSTEC Summit: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, on Thursday (local time), highlighted India's 6,500-km coastline in the Bay of Bengal, asserting that the country provides connectivity between the subcontinent and Southeast Asian nations. Jaishankar's remarks came days after Bangladesh's Chief Advisor Mohammad Yunus said that India's northeastern states are "landlocked" and termed Bangladesh as the "only guardian of the ocean" for the region.
Jaishankar further asserted that India is aware of its responsibility regarding the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), saying that its northeastern region is "emerging as a connectivity hub for the BIMSTEC."
"India is aware of its special responsibility in regard to BIMSTEC. We, after all, have the longest coastline in the Bay of Bengal, of almost 6500km. India shares borders not only with five BIMSTEC members, connects most of them, but also provides much of the interface between the Indian Sub-continent and ASEAN," Jaishankar, who reached Bangkok to attend the 20th BIMSTEC Ministerial Meeting, said in a statement.
"Our North-Eastern region in particular is emerging as a connectivity hub for the BIMSTEC, with a myriad network of roads, railways, waterways, grids and pipelines. Furthermore, the completion of the Trilateral Highway will connect India’s North East all the way to the Pacific Ocean, a veritable game-changer," the EAM said in an apparent rebuttal to Bangladesh's Mohammad Yunus.
Jaishankar further noted that cooperation is not subject to "cherry-picking" saying that India understands its role in the "smooth flow of goods, services and people" in the region. "We are conscious that our cooperation and facilitation are an essential pre-requisite for the smooth flow of goods, services and people in this larger geography," he said.
"Keeping this geo-strategic factor in mind, we have devoted increasing energies and attention to the strengthening of BIMSTEC in the last decade. We also believe that cooperation is an integrated outlook, not one subject to cherry picking," Jaishankar added.
This came days after Bangladesh chief advisor Mohammad Yunus said that India's northeastern states had no way to reach out to the ocean, terming the region landlocked. Yunus, who visited China recently, further presented Bangladesh as the primary gateway for the region's maritime access, asking Beijing to expand its economic influence in Bangladesh.
"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," Yunus said after meeting Chinese Premier Xi Jinping. Yunus also signed nine agreements with China and secured a USD 2.1 billion financial package.
Yunus' remarks irked leaders across party lines in India, with Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma calling the statements "offensive" and "strongly condemnable." "Such provocative statements by Muhammad Yunus must not be taken lightly, as they reflect deeper strategic considerations and longstanding agendas," Sarma said in a post on X.
"Historically, internal elements within India have dangerously suggested severing this critical passageway. Therefore, it is imperative to develop more robust railway and road networks both underneath and around the Chicken's Neck corridor," the Assam CM added.