Editorial
Prospects for BCIM
Trade barriers must be removed
Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar, which make up the BCIM Forum, cover 9 percent of the world's area, 40 percent of the population and 7.3 percent of the global GDP. Thus the cooperation of the four countries is of great importance to their own economic growth as well as its reflection on the world economy.
The recent Forum held in Dhaka urged governments to remove trade barriers for greater economic cooperation in the region in accordance with the fast-changing global and regional dynamics as well as to promote multimodal connectivity through rail-road-water and air linkages. The multi-track initiative promotes both intra-regional and extra-regional trade and investment and the countries involved could gain significantly from trade and transit agreements and through benefit-sharing arrangements along prospective trade and transport corridors, as was noted in a 12-point joint statement issued at the end of the Forum. Investment in infrastructure was noted as being a key area in stimulating cooperation and ensuring energy security remains a major concern. The Forum also noted significant opportunities for joint exploration of natural resources, collaborative investment in energy sector development and cross-border trade and movement in energy within the region.
The Forum also observed several challenges, however, such as tariff and non-tariff barriers, weak trade facilitation measures, lack of custom harmonisation and obstacles to cross-border movement of goods arising from weak infrastructure at and beyond the borders -- all of which raise the cost of doing business in the region. These discourage trade-oriented investment, financial flows and undermine competitiveness of entrepreneurs in the region.
We would like to reiterate the concerns of the Forum as well as to highlight the opportunities and prospects ahead for the region, calling upon the governments to consider the Forum's proposals towards enhancing and enriching economic prosperity for the countries, region and world overall.
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