NEW DELHI, India – Bangladesh has proposed direct road links with Myanmar and Thailand to improve its business ties with the nations of Southeast Asia.
The proposal was made by Bangladesh Foreign Adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury to the Myanmar and Thai foreign ministers during the latest Bay of Bengal Initiative for MultiSectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (Bimstec) meeting in New Delhi, India.

An official report from Bangladesh stated that Foreign Adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury made the proposal on August 29 during his meetings with Myanmar’s Foreign Minister, U Nyan Win, and Thai Foreign Minister Tej Bunnag.

The 10th Bimstec Ministerial Meeting was convened in New Delhi on August 29 with the intent to forge stronger ties and map out transportation and trade links between countries.

Foreign ministers from Bangladesh, Myanmar, India, Thailand, Bhutan, Nepal, and Sri Lanka attended the meeting.

Bangladesh has plans to build a road linking it with Myanmar, but the plan has yet to be implemented, even though the agreement between the two countries was made over five years ago.

Bangladesh believes that the road link will also provide access to China, eventually building connections between Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, and China.

Bangladesh Foreign Adviser Ifthekhar during the meeting said: “This is still a very preliminary stage in the thought process. Bangladesh will benefit immensely from a road leading to the East, particularly to China and the ASEAN bloc via Myanmar. There seems to be a growing interest of these countries in this idea, which is good for all of us.”