Kolkata, Mar 29: Millet diplomacy, regional cooperation, proposal for BIMSTEC Games and University for better people to people connect and focusing on Kolkata as the nodal centre for India’s Act East were some of the major points raised during the two day BIMSTEC conference held in Kolkata on the occasion its 25th anniversary.
On the opening day of the meet, Honorable Minister of State, Ministry of External Affairs, Rajkumar Ranajan Singh, after inaugurating the two-day BIMSTEC meet, stressed on India’s Millet diplomacy to solve food crisis among the member nations and East and North East of the country to become leaders in diplomatic strategy for the region.
Speaking at the inaugural session of Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), Mr Singh said “This is the Year of the Millet and our Prime Minister has given much importance to it. This is a climate resilient crop and its nutrition value is very high. Let us hope that food deficiency by way of cultivation and popularization of millet can be addressed. It grows in all geographic condition and needs less water. So let us promote it and see how far it goes to solve the problem of food security.” ///
“Kolkata is strategically one of the most prominent cities of India and for promotion of East and Act East policy Kolkata should be the prime area and the regional head to lead the Act East policy,” he said while talking about the importance given to East in taking forward the BIMSTEC agenda.
In the technical session on climate change, Mr Sangay Wangdi, Researcher, Centre for Bhutan and GNH Studies (CBS), expressed his concern about the growing climate hazard in the region. He said: " The constitution of Bhutan mandates 60 per cent of forest cover at all times and Bhutan has more than 70 per cent of land under forest cover. The problem we are facing is that, the areas which are cold are becoming colder and the areas which are hot are getting hotter.”///
Wangdi warned that the result of this climate change could bring with it a host of problems like sea level rise, extreme weather conditions, glacial lake outburst, vulnerable agriculture sector, ecosystem and economic loss and final vulnerable health conditions.
Echoing the same sentiments, Dr Yogesh Gokhale, Senior Fellow and Area Convenor, Centre for Forest Management and Governance Land; Resources Division, The Energy and Resource Institute, said: "At the 13th Session of BIMSTEC senior officials' meeting in 2009, climate change was added to the governing priority and in the successive meeting the commitment for climate action was upheld and strengthened.
Adaptation, inducing climate resilience and mitigation- need to be developed and implemented at regional level. All BIMSTEC member countries have Nature based solution as a major approach committed as climate actions under Paris Climate Agreement. Mangroves have one of the highest rates of carbon sequestration and there is a huge demand of carbon credits generated from restoration, plantations of mangrove areas."
Dr Herath Manthrithilake, Emeritus Scientist, International Water Management Institute (IWMI) Sri Lanka, talking on the subject said: “It is very important to talk about the wastage of food and food nutrition. I have no doubt in saying that out food system has changed. The western diet culture has turned our food habit into being more weighted and measured rather than valued and enjoyed. In Azerbaijan, Iceland, Switzerland and UAE everyone can afford a healthy diet. But in Sri Lanka we find 3963 tonnes of food being wasted every day. Total solid food wastage has grown immensely. So our main aim will be to come together and control the food wastage not only in Sri Lanka but also in other countries as well.” ///
Talking about Sport as Soft Power, Arindam Basu, Former Sports Journalist and Senior Faculty Sister Nivedita University, said: “The need of the hour was the formation of a common sports policy; regular sporting exchanges; holding each other develop sports; include sports as an important subject of nation building and create a new sporting frontier for the world to see—like BIMSTEC Games. It will help the sportspersons get more competition and build a camaraderie among themselves and bring the people together at the celebration of sport at the grassroots level. It can open several doors like tourism, business industry and thus push bilateral and multilateral relations.”
The session on Strengthening Regional Solidarity through Transport Connectivity saw Dr Sanjeev Ranjan, Chairman, National Shipping Board, said: “The BIMSTEC for the purpose of strengthening regional solidarity and transport connectivity has been active and thanks to that we have a master plan in place which has been accepted which gives the detail. We have a clear master plan which covers areas of road transport, railways, ports, inland waterways and it also very familiarly touches upon the need for multi model connectivity and promoting ease of doing business and making transaction simpler and also the need for developing human resource.”
Dr Constantino Xavier, Research Fellow, Centre For Social and Economic Progress, CSEP, New Delhi said: “Kolkata should strive to become the connective capital of India. This is a city that is deeply tied to the Bay of Bengal, to the Himalayas, the Eurasian Hinterland, to the Indian Ocean region, to South East Asia, and East Asia, so certainly this is if not one among but deep most prophecies place for us to discuss connectivity and hopefully, Kolkata can reclaim its place historically over centuries as a connectivity hub for Asia.”
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