BBIN

The Asia Foundation, in partnership with the Confederation of Indian Industry, organized the second annual South Asia Power Summit on November 16 in New Delhi. The event was organized as part of The Asia Foundation’s Sustainable Development Integrated Portfolio program in India; this program is supported by Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs… Read more

Grand experiments in geopolitics often begin by cautiously testing new ways of doing things. Sovereign states calibrate and then recalibrate their visions by expanding and aligning interests with their neighbors, with the hope that the sum of what is achieved is greater than its parts. Recent actions indicate that this is underway in South Asia’s n… Read more

Next week, two passenger buses will make the journey from Dhaka to Kathmandu using new routes proposed under the Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, and Nepal (BBIN) Motor Vehicles Agreement, saving riders a distance of more than 100 kilometers. What began as an agreement to simplify the movement of people and goods between these countries is now developing… Read more

Grand experiments in geopolitics, in the absence of external shocks such as war, often begin by cautiously testing new ways of doing things. Sovereign states calibrate and then re-calibrate their visions for the region by expanding and aligning interests with their neighbors, with the hope that the sum of what is achieved is greater than its parts…. Read more

Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s four-day state visit to India last month, her first in seven years, was productive by any measure. Twenty-two agreements, spanning defense cooperation, nuclear energy, and outer space were inked. The relationship has been one of the bright spots for cooperation in South Asia, and has steadily gained moment… Read more

According to a new World Bank report, South Asia has solidified its rank as the world’s fastest growing economic region in 2016, and is expected to hold this spot at least through to 2017. With growth in the offing, a young population of 1.6 billion people, and a burgeoning consuming class, every global producer is eager to trade with South Asia no… Read more

Over 30 years have passed since the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) held its first summit. Despite efforts to economically integrate the region, including drastically cutting high tariff rates through trade pacts such as the South Asian Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA), intra-regional trade has remained at a dismal 5 percent, c… Read more

Climate change combined with rapid population growth and urbanization is placing intense pressure on South Asia’s most precious resource: water. Per capita water availability in the region has decreased by 70 percent since 1950, according to the Asian Development Bank.