COX’S BAZAR: The four Asian neighboring countries will be connected with the 2000-year old ‘Silk Route’ by building Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor (BCIM-EC).

The policy issues have been discussed at the second meeting of the BCIM joint-study group at a hotel in the tourism city Cox’s Bazaar on Wednesday.

The four countries will finalize their political decisions on the connectivity after holding detailed discussion on Thursday, the last day of two-day meeting.

The first meeting, in participation of the four countries’ delegations, was held in Beijing, capital city of China, on December 18 and 19 of 2013. According to the decision of that meeting, the second meeting is underway in Bangladesh.

A total of 44 delegations -- 17 from Bangladesh, 15 from China 7 from India and 5 from Myanmar -- are attending the second meeting.

At the first day of the meeting, the delegates gave their opinions on nine different issues related to energy cooperation, climate change, trade facilitation, duty reduction, removing non-tariff obstacles, cultural exchange and building communication among  people, coordination among financial institutions, poverty alleviation and information technology.

Bangladesh foreign secretary M Shahidul Haque told banglanews that details on the ‘Silk Route’ discussed at the meeting.

The third meeting of joint-study group will be held in India next year and the final decision on ‘Silk Route’ will be taken there, he added.

The secretary said that political opinions are required on proposals after taking it as a report.

The corridor will bring development to the underdeveloped areas of Bangladesh, according to Shahidul.

Center for Policy Dialogue (CPD) executive director Mustafizur Rahman told banglanews that vast areas of Bangladesh, including port city Chittagong, will see huge development and economic changes, if the economic corridor is implemented.

It is learnt that in 1930 the British government took initiatives to revive the two thousand years old route coined as ‘Silk Road’.

The initiative was taken to enhance trade with China. The plan was to carry goods by a rail network from Cox’s Bazaar to Kunming of China via Teknaf, Akiab and Mandalay.

Along side there was another plan to export goods to European markets through Chittagong port. But the plan could not be implemented due to the Second World War.

The initiative to reintroduce the old route has come from China. After diplomatic exchanges now Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam are working together to materialize it.

Later, Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, and Chine formed a joint study group in this regard.

Distance of the corridor is around 2,490 kilometers with an estimated budget of $22 billon for construction. The ongoing meeting is also discussing the possible financing sources to construct the corridor.

BDST: 1215 HRS, DEC 18, 2014