BCIM Economic Corridor

The Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar Economic Corridor (BCIM) was a proposed corridor connecting India and China through Myanmar and Bangladesh as a corridor.^[2][3]

In 2015, China proposed including the corridor as part of its vision for the Belt and Road Initiative, China's signature global connectivity initiative. The BRI was boycotted by India from the start. In May 2019, the BCIM was not mentioned in a list of 35 corridors and projects in a joint communique issued by state leaders attending the 2nd Belt and Road Forum, indicating the BCIM had been dropped from the BRI. In the same year India has sought to keep the BCIM intact by sending a delegation to the 13th BCIM Forum in Yuxi, noting however the corridor predates the BRI.^[4] Ultimately, the corridor was abandoned due to BCIM's ties to the Belt and Road and the sharp deterioration in Sino-Indian relations.^[5]

The proposed corridor will cover 1.65 million square kilometres, encompassing an estimated 440 million people in China's Yunnan province, Bangladesh, Myanmar, and West Bengal in Eastern India through the combination of road, rail, water and air linkages in the region.^[6] The BCIM envisages greater market access for goods, services and energy, elimination of non-tariff barriers, better trade facilitation, investment in infrastructure development, and joint exploration and development of mineral, water, and other natural resources.^[7]