Bangladesh-Myanmar Border Relations: A Study of Some Geopolitical and Economic Issues

Abstract

Myanmar is a neighboring country of Bangladesh with long border. It has huge natural resources such as oil, gas, forestry, fisheries, agricultural land and other mineral resources. Myanmar is a country with an easy access to South Asia, South East Asia, and North East Asia. It is also linked with the Bay of Bengal and Indian Ocean which have strategic importance for navigation, trade, and investment purposes. Two-neighboring countries, China and India, are both beneficiaries through maintaining friendly relations with Myanmar. Both China and India are using Myanmar’s ports, Bay of Bengal and Indian Ocean, for exports and imports. They have also invested a huge amount of money in the different development projects including oil, gas, electricity, regional connectivity, and special economic zones in Rakhine state. The result of the study shows that the relationship between Bangladesh and Myanmar is not very good diplomatically. Bangladesh, being a close neighbor, has not been able to be benefit from Myanmar’s natural resources, strategic location, and trade and investments. It is high time for Bangladesh to look at the potentials that are important in terms of its geo-strategic, geopolitical, and economic interests. The crisis of Rohingya ethnic minority occurs as a result of the lack of intimate relationship between Bangladesh and Myanmar. This paper focuses on pointing out the bilateral problems between these two countries. It also aims to provide some policy recommendations for both countries, particularly Bangladesh, which is suffering tremendously due to Rohingya influx. This study recommends that Bangladesh government should take necessary steps to maintain the relationship with Myanmar’s government to resolve the bilateral border issues amicably. To carry out this study, both secondary and primary data were used qualitatively.