4 days Ago By Sentinel Digital Desk
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s visit to Bhutan marks a crucial juncture in India-Bhutan relations and holds promises of bringing Assam to the centre stage of bilateral engagement between the two friendly nations. Assam shares the longest stretch of India-Bhutan borders, yet 70% of bilateral trade between the two countries takes place through Jaigaon Land Custom Station in West Bengal. Despite centuries of historic, cultural, trade, and commerce relations between the people of Bhutan and Assam, the geographic advantage has not been utilised to unlock the potential of mutual growth in the state and geographic regions within the Himalayan Kingdom across Assam-Bhutan borders.
Bhutan already signalled its keenness to increase trade, commerce, and people-to-people engagement with Assam when King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck visited the state in November last year. He discussed a wide range of issues, including rail connectivity, cross-border trade infrastructure, economic cooperation, tourism, education, skill development, and environmental conservation, among others, with Chief Minister Sarma. The Bhutanese King, by extending an invitation to the Chief Minister to attend Bhutan’s National Day Celebration and grand reception extended to him, has conveyed a clear message from the Himalayan Kingdom to prioritise Assam in its bilateral engagement with India, which must not be missed.
The launching of the Advantage Assam 2.0 roadshow from Thimphu by the Chief Minister and the attendance of over 100 business leaders and entrepreneurs in it is encouraging development. It is also indicative of the more Bhutanese traders looking at Assam with renewed interest and exploring investment and business opportunities in the state.
Bhutan’s push for Gelephu Mindfulness City has already attracted global attention, and Assam’s proximity has brought new opportunities to draw the attention of global investors to the state as an important hub of trade and commerce under India’s Act East policy, which seeks to enhance bilateral and multilateral engagement with ASEAN and Indo-Pacific countries. India has already inaugurated an immigration check post at Darranga in the Tamulpur district closely after the two countries agreed to facilitate the entry or exit of third country nationals through the Darranga (Assam)/Samdrup Jongkhar (Bhutan) ICP. Apart from bilateral trade between India and Bhutan, Assam also has the geographic advantage of facilitating trade and commerce between Bhutan and Bangladesh.
Bangladesh is the only country with which Bhutan has a trade surplus. The Preferential Trade Agreement between Bangladesh and Bhutan in 2020 seeks to increase trade between the two countries. Bhutanese traders finding Dhubri port in Assam are more advantageous in terms of distance and transportation cost for exporting boulders from Bhutan to Bangladesh, pointing towards the geostrategic advantage of Assam in the bilateral trade between the two SAARC nations.
India’s first multimodal logistic park at Jogighopa in Assam, when commissioned, will enhance this strategic advantage manifold. Apart from trade and commerce, Bhutan and Assam have a host of mutual ecological interests. The Manas National Park, a world heritage site, forms a contiguous biodiversity region with Royal Manas National Park, which is also a world heritage site located along the south-central part of Bhutan.
Hence, conservation efforts in Manas National Park in Assam cannot be sustainable without parallel efforts in Bhutan and vice versa. Bhutan also forms an important part of the Brahmaputra River basin, and the ecological health of the tributaries of the mighty river flowing through Bhutan is critical to long-term conservation needs of the river network in both countries for meeting water needs for agriculture, safe drinking water, and sustaining rich ecological resources of these rivers and their ecosystem services. Increasing relations in trade, commerce, and people-to-people engagement will provide Assam the opportunity to flag downstream concerns over the use of water resources of the Brahmaputra tributaries for harnessing hydel power.
Bhutan and its people have always been demonstrating commitment to share water for sustainable use for the benefit of both countries. The traditional manmade irrigation channels originating in Bhutan for agricultural activities in border areas in the Bodoland Territorial Region have laid a strong foundation for establishing a strong framework of cooperation for the sustainable use of water shared by Assam and Bhutan. Articulation of such a framework has become an urgent necessity to strengthen bilateral cooperation between India and Bhutan to mitigate climate change impact, creating water stress and posing sustainability challenges to water availability and use in both countries.
It is hoped that this issue will be put on the table when Assam and Bhutan officials meet to carry forward the dream of their political leaders to strengthen the age-old friendship and bond between India and Bhutan and take it to the next level. Benefits of bilateral engagement, increased trade and commerce, and tourism flowing to the people in BTR and people in Bhutan on the other side of the border, who are the torchbearers of this friendship between the two countries, will be crucial for the sustainability of the new bilateral initiatives..
