To further enhance regional trade and connectivity, India, Bangladesh and Nepal have finalized an enabling memorandum of understanding (MoU) for implementing the Bangladesh-Bhutan-India-Nepal (BBIN) Motor Vehicles Agreement (MVA).
The three countries met together in New Delhi during March 7-8 and Bhutan was an observer. Once the three countries sign the MoU it will pave the way for implementing BBIN MVA. According to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), MoU was finalized “pending ratification of the MVA by Bhutan”.
According to the MEA statement the three countries have expressed their desire to sign the MoU at the earliest as this will give a momentum to the implementation.
Who was present at the meeting?
The Indian delegation was led by Ms Smita Pant, Joint Secretary, MEA.
Delegation from Bangladesh was led by ATM Rokebul Haque, Director General (South Asia), Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The delegation from Nepal was led by Keshab Kumar Sharma, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport.
The observer team from Bhutan was led by Thinley Norbu, First Secretary, Royal Bhutanese Embassy in New Delhi.
Why is this important?
Once the MVA is operationalized it will “enable seamless movement between them for facilitating trade and people-to-people contact”. This will help in realizing the full potential of trade and people to people connectivity between BBIN countries by fostering greater sub-regional cooperation.
The meeting in New Delhi was held to mainly discuss the cargo and passenger protocols which are important to operationalise the BBIN Motor Vehicles Agreement (MVA) for the Regulation of Passenger, Personal and Cargo Vehicular Traffic between Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal. This was signed in 2015 on June 15.
During the meeting the delegates agreed on specific steps and timelines to finalize these protocols. Also present during the two days meeting the Asian Development Bank provided technical and knowledge support to the meeting.
Since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, this was the first meeting of all the four countries in New Delhi. The last meeting was in February 2020.
When was BBIN created?
At a summit in Nepal in 2014, South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) in 2014 failed to agree on a regional motor vehicles agreement following opposition from Pakistan. This led to the formation of BBIN.
In 2017, Bhutan had opted out temporarily after it was not able to get approval for the MVA. At that time the other three countries moved on with the agreement.
History
On June 15, 2015, the BBIN Motor Vehicle Agreement for the Regulation of Passenger, Personal and Cargo Vehicular Traffic between Bhutan, Bangladesh, India and Nepal was signed when the transport ministers had met in Thimpu.
At that time Bhutan had given its consent for the entry into force of the MVA, without any obligation to itself, pending the completion of internal procedures for ratifying the agreement.