Guwahati, May 28 (PTI): External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar Saturday said that the coming together of Act East and Neighbourhood First policies will have an enormous reinforcing impact for the country beyond the confines of southeast Asia. The realisation of this is evident from the potential of BIMSTEC in the Bay of Bengal region, he said addressing the Natural Allies in Development and Interdependence (NADI) conclave here. Land connectivity through Myanmar and sea connectivity through Bangladesh will open up all the ways to Vietnam and Philippines, he said. “Once this becomes viable on a commercial scale, it will create an East-West lateral with sweeping consequences for the continent,” Jaishankar saidd. It will not only build on the partnership with the ASEAN countries and Japan, but will actually make a difference to the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework that is now in the making, the union minister said. “It is definitely within our ability to overcome geography
The next round of the Joint Consultation Commission (JCC) meeting between Bangladesh and India scheduled to be held in New Delhi on May 30 has been deferred. A new date mutually convenient to both sides for the foreign-minister level talks will be announced later. Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen, now attending the third edition of Asian Confluence River Conclave-2022