An Indian minister expressed Delhi’s willingness to share with Bangladesh gas from Myanmar with which the former is planning to build a pipeline for the fuel import.
“We are ready to help Bangladesh achieve energy security in the field of gas as we are doing in the case of electricity supply,” Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan told the FE in an exclusive interview at the convention centre of MayFair Lagoon where a three-day international conference on ‘India and the Indian Ocean’ is taking place.
Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj opened the meet formally on Friday.
The conference has been organised by Delhi-based Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS) and the Kolkata-based Institute of Social and Cultural Studies (ISCS).
Mr Dharmendra Pradhan said even the two countries-India and Bangladesh-could share the Myanmar gas through a tri-nation pipeline.
“It is now for Bangladesh to consider our readiness in gas sharing,” he said, adding that Bangladesh’s energy adviser Toufique-e-Ilahi Chowdhury will shortly visit and meet him in the Indian capital for further cooperation in energy.
He said India will provide power from its Palatana plant in the northeastern Tripura state. “Power is the prime mover of development,” he pointed out.
Mr Dharmendra, a politician from Orissa, made a quip during the talk that people of the Indian state are in wait for tasting Hilsa from Bangladesh.
One of the salient aspects of international relations is the politics of linkages. Coupled with the theory of soft power it has, in recent times, proved highly successful, with special reference to India.
The Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), formerly known as the Indian Ocean Rim Initiative and Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC), is an international organization consisting of coastal states bordering the Indian Ocean. The IORA is a regional forum, tripartite in nature, bringing together representatives of government, business and academia, for promoting cooperation and closer interaction among them.
It is based on the principles of Open Regionalism for strengthening economic cooperation, particularly in trade facilitation and investment, promotion as well as social development of the region.