Indo-Bangladesh Cooperation on Inland Waterways: Recent Developments, Possibilities and Ideas towards enhancing Livelihoods and Prosperity in the sub-region

In recent times India and Bangladesh have jointly made substantial progress towards harnessing Inland Waterways and Coastal Routes for connectivity. There have been several initiatives to this end including major infrastructural projects, expansion of protocol routes, ports of calls, development of multimodal logistics hubs, commitments to maintaining year-round water flows in the river channels, etc. This has opened up several possibilities towards enhancing trade, commerce and prosperity for both the countries. In the backdrop of the COVID19 pandemic and the consequent global economic slowdown, creating new livelihoods and economic opportunities is a crucial need. With that new normal in mind, this paper collates the recent developments and trends for inland waterways in the sub-region to highlight the opportunities and scope created by these developments. In that context, the paper argues the case for developing cross-border value chains in agri-horticulture and allied products between the North East Region (NER) of India and Bangladesh with waterways as the mode for transport and connectivity. It also discusses key challenges to this and provides recommendations for the same. In conclusion a Concrete Project Idea is shared for exploring these potential and possibilities.