Concept Note:

India and Bangladesh are two nations that are entwined in shared history, culture trade and familial bonds.  Tied in a common geography of a shared basin of the Ganga, Brahmaputra and Meghna river systems with more than 52 transboundary rivers, India has a long border with Bangladesh spread across 5 states of the Indian Union. This imperative of geography dictates a unique and shared approach to dealing with overarching challenges such as poverty alleviation, climate change and water security. Bangladesh is the largest recipient of Indian concessional lines of credit.  Her strategic location have a large implication on India’s security concerns in the overall Bay of Bengal region.  Post the recent events and subsequent developments in Bangladesh, India- Bangladesh relations have been witnessing turbulence.

While Prime Minister Narendra Modi was one of the first world leaders to greet the Chief advisor in the Caretaker government after the change of regime in Bangladesh, concerns abound on both sides: In India; an unstable Bangladesh, rise of extremist Islamic elements the persecution of minorities have gripped media headlines in India. Uncertainty looms on elections and the return of a democratically elected government. The increased pitch of fundamentalist lobbies and strong anti-India sentiments emanate relentlessly even from members of the establishment. In a recent Thinktank event in Bangladesh several concerns from Bangladesh were also articulated: The presence of the deposed Prime Minister in India, India’s alleged one-side support to the Awami League, ongoing issues on border killing, water-related issues, were listed as some of the main issues of contention.

However, the recent visit by the Indian foreign secretary Amb. Vikram Misri to Bangladesh has been seen as a constructive step forward. Following that, in a recent interview, the Army Chief of Bangladesh General Waker-Uz-Zaman spoke about interdependence between India and Bangladesh. He said "India is an important neighbour. We are dependent on India in many ways, and India benefits from us too. A large number of Indians are working here, both formally and informally. Many Bangladeshis visit India for medical treatment, and we import significant quantities of goods from them" 

Moving forward, in the big picture, for inclusive development of the millions of people of both countries, some questions beg consideration:

• Peace and Security: How does Bangladesh assure the security concerns of India and how does India assure the concerns of Bangladesh? How do the recent developments in Myanmar especially the developments in the Arakan region combined with the developments in Bangladesh affect the security of the bordering areas in India’s Northeast?
• Geopolitics: What are the big power calculations in the Bay of Bengal region and the effect of India-Bangladesh relations in the Bay of Bengal and Indian Ocean region?
• Regional connectivity infrastructure: What happens to Infrastructure and the common connectivity projects that India and other allies like Japan invested in? How can they be taken forward? What impact will this have on North East India?
• Public Narrative: The media space in both countries has been lately rife with a lot of rhetoric and unverified information. How can the public narrative on both sides be made more constructive?

The closed-door roundtable of selected experts from academia, media, and the strategic community will be conducted with strict Chatham House rules, and would like to deliberate on charting scenarios of the way forward.

 An assessment of the present state of affairs.  

• What are the possible pathways ahead?
• What should be the role of the Third Space?
• How can Thinktanks and strategic community complement the government strategy?

Agenda:

Welcome Remarks by Shri. MP Bezbaruah, Chairman, Governing Council, Asian Confluence

Tone Setting by Shri. Sabyasachi Dutta, Executive Director, Asian Confluence

Opening Panel Discussion:

Moderator- Amb Rajiv Bhatia, Member, Governing Council, Asian Confluence

Keynote- Amb. Pankaj Saran, Convenor, NatStrat

Panellists:

·       Prof. Sreeradha Datta, Jindal School of International Affairs, O.P Jindal Global University

·       Dr. Constantino Xavier, Senior Fellow, CSEP

·       Amb. Riva Ganguly Das, Member Governing Council, Asian Confluence

·       Dr. Prabir De, Professor, RIS, New Delhi

Moderated Roundtable Discussion

List of Discussants: (in alphabetical order)

• Amb. Anil Wadhwa, Distinguished Fellow, VIF
• Lt. Gen. Arvinder Lamba, Member, Governing Council, Asian Confluence
• Prof. Baladas Ghoshal, Former Professor, South & South East Asia Studies, JNU & Sec Gen, Society for Indian Ocean Studies.
• Mr. Dipanjan Roy Chaudhury, Diplomatic Editor, The Economic Times
• Amb. Deepa Wadhwa, Member, Governing Council, Asian Confluence
• Ms. Indrani Bagchi, CEO, Ananta Centre (tbc)
• Prof. Mahendra Lama, Prof, JNU and Distinguished Fellow, Asian Confluence
• MEA representative
• Ms. Nayanima Basu, Diplomacy & Defence Editor, ABP News
• Mr. Rajat Nag, Member, Governing Council, Asian Confluence
• Dr. Smruti S. Pattanaik, Research Fellow, MP-IDSA, New Delhi
• Ms. Shakuntala Gamlin, Member, Governing Council, Asian Confluence
• Mr. Shubhajit Roy, Diplomatic Editor, The Indian Express