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00:00Whenever there is turbulence between two or three countries in the region,
00:05the process of regional cooperation experiences hiccups.
00:11Regional cooperation means cooperating between more than two countries.
00:17You have to have good bilateral relations with at least three
00:22contiguously located neighbors.
00:26Therefore it is in the interest of all, all the neighbors in the region
00:34to sit with each other and amicably discuss issues.
00:38We should take a lesson out of how ASEAN deals with their interstate relationship.
00:44We can learn of course the lesson from Europe but we are not in Europe, our culture is different.
00:49ASEAN is the closest culture to us.
00:53But we can also learn from what is happening in East Africa, West Africa and Southern Africa.
00:58East African Union is a going concern.
01:02They are at least 50 years ahead of the South Asia region.
01:06We should ask ourselves why they are ahead and we are not.
01:10Remember that the world is going forward.
01:13Even if we do nothing, we are going backwards.
01:17What priorities should the new government focus on to ensure stable India Bangladesh relation?
01:26Re-engage in official conversations as well as re-engage in people to people contacts,
01:36re-energize trade and economic activities.
01:42Without these we will not be able to move forward.
01:46How can Bangladesh balance its national interest while fostering a cooperative partnership with India?
01:54I assume that our national interest must have as a core goal good relations with all our neighbors.
02:06Whether it is with India or it is with Nepal or Bhutan or Sri Lanka which are immediately around us
02:12or with China which is at one stage of separation from us or with the ASEAN which all the countries are Bay of Bengal countries.
02:20I see regional cooperation on a larger scale and frame than we have so far seen.
02:29From SAARC we move to sub-regional cooperation BBIN and BIMSTEC.
02:34I am envisaging taking it even one step further to say that BIMSTEC plus configuration.
02:41Which means all the Bay of Bengal countries that's the seven countries on the Bay of Bengal rim
02:47plus adjacent countries of interest which have an interest in the Bay of Bengal
02:52that is landlocked countries like Nepal and Bhutan
02:57and countries in the ASEAN region like Vietnam, Cambodia etc. Brunei
03:04with whom we have interests should comprise a configuration like Bay of Bengal cooperation
03:12and we should have the two ports of Singapore and Mali as the eastern and western
03:19entrepreneurs of such cooperation.
03:21This will make the Bay of Bengal which has over a quarter of the world's total population
03:30in this region.
03:33Also with the aggregate GDP they will be the fourth largest after USA, China and European Union.
03:44We are all emerging powers in one way or the other and I think together
03:50we will have better bargaining influence in the global discourses.
03:57In final words sir I am asking whether you have started the new initiative
04:05Bay of Bengal initiative under your leadership.
04:08What's the objective of these institutions?
04:10To foster greater cooperation.
04:12I am not talking of an alliance I am talking more in the sense of a fraternity
04:17of the countries of the Bay of Bengal region
04:20who can bring together their respective economic and strategic strengths
04:27and work with each other to further their own national interest but in a collective manner.
04:34I am not talking of an alliance.
04:36So we can start like the European Union started with just what was called
04:42the European Economic Cooperation.
04:45Then it progressed to the European Economic Community.
04:50Then it became the European Community
04:53because from economy it started addressing other issues
04:56and at the final stage it became the European Union.