The Foreign Ministers of countries which are part of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) have approved, in principle, 167 connectivity projects costing US$ 50 billion based on an Asian Development Bank (ADB) study, The Kathmandu Post reported. The member states are developing a BIMSTEC Transport Connectivity Master Plan, with a goal to complete it by the end of September 2018, Nepalese Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali said.
The initial $7.3 billion price tag on the Kyauk Pyu deepwater port, on the western tip of Myanmar’s conflict-torn Rakhine state, set off alarm bells due to reports of troubled Chinese-backed projects in Sri Lanka and Pakistan. The revised cost would be “around $1.3 billion, something that’s much more plausible for Myanmar’s use”, said Sean Turnell, the Australian economic advisor to Myanmar’s civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.
The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), which held its fourth Summit in Kathmandu on August 30 and 31, appears to have entered a new era, awakening from years of somnolence. The first signs of an awakening appeared in 2014, when a Permanent Secretariat was established and a Secretary General was appointed, the first since the organization came into being in 1997.Under the first Secretary General, Sumith Nakandala of Sri Lanka, BIMSTEC became a beehive of activity, writes P.K.Balachandran in Daily Mirror.
A moribund Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is likely to come alive with the two Asian giants – India and China – coming closer to realize their ambitions through the execution of massive connectivity projects across Asia.
There was enough evidence of it at the Fourth BIMSTEC summit held in Kathmandu on Aug 30-31, writes P.K.Balachandran in www.bdnews24.com.
UN investigators into the atrocities committed by the Myanmar army against the Rohingya Muslims called on the UN Security Council to impose an arms embargo on Myanmar, subject its officials to targeted sanctions and set up an ad hoc tribunal to try suspects or refer them to the International Criminal Court in the Hague. The report also could serve as a major catalyst for change in how the world’s big social media companies handle hate speech in parts of the world where they have limited direct presence but their platforms command huge influence.
Male, June 29 (newsin.asia): Former Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed, who was likely to be one of the leading candidates in the September Presidential Election, said Friday, that he will back away from contesting the crucial polls for the betterment of his party, the Maldivian Democratic Party. MDP Spokesperson, Hamid Abdul Gafoor told newsin.asia that Nasheed […]
After the Indian government made the Aadhaar Card (National ID card) mandatory for school admissions, the little access the Rohingya refugees from Myanmar had to education in Delhi eroded. Schools stopped admitting their children and yet, they are pulling themselves by the bootstraps to educate their boys and girls, write Ayesha Khan and Tahira Noor in The Citizen.
The House of Commons’ committee on International Development has said in its report that the persecution of the Rohingyas by Myanmar should be taken to the International Criminal Court (ICC), reports P.K.Balachandran in South Asian Monitor. The report recommended that the UK and its allies “gather support for the UN Security Council to refer Burma (Myanmar) to the International Criminal Court and to apply targeted financial sanctions to all identifiable key figures.”
Bangladesh authorities have arrested “several” suspected members of a Rohingya rebel group near the country’s southeastern border with Myanmar, a senior Bangladeshi government official told BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service.
After some Rohingya said they were raped last year, authorities asked the women to file reports with local police, but they did not, Myanmar official Zaw Htay said. Then they told international media, including a reporter for The New York Times, that the military was gang-raping women.
