India’s Northeast is at the cusp of a connectivity revolution. Since 2014, the development of crucial infrastructure in the Northeast has been taken up on a mission mode. Once known for scant connectivity and internal disturbances, India’s Northeast today boasts some of the country’s best roads and bridges. Rail infrastructure has grown by leaps and bounds, and all states in the Northeast are now on India’s railway map.

Therefore, the time is ripe to take the next big step, and that is exactly why Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Thailand for the BIMSTEC Summit assumes such importance.

At the top of the BIMSTEC’s agenda is the Maritime Transport Agreement, which will provide a fillip to intra-regional trade between India and Southeast Asia. Not only is the MTA set to enhance trade between India and ASEAN, but it will also help New Delhi grow its influence across the wider Pacific Ocean.

External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar highlighted this during his remarks at the BIMSTEC ministerial meeting. He emphasised the fact that India has the longest coastline in the Bay of Bengal, spanning almost 6500 kilometres. India shares borders not only with five BIMSTEC members, but also connects most of them and provides much of the interface between the Indian Sub-continent and ASEAN.

For context, the BIMSTEC countries have a combined population of 1.73 billion people and a GDP of $5.2 trillion. Connectivity integration within this bloc can change the face of trade in the Indo-Pacific. After all, the sky is the limit for India.

Amid growing geopolitical uncertainty globally, New Delhi is keen to first connect Thailand with the Northeast and India’s coastal regions. Once that is achieved, the path will be cleared for India to make further inroads into........

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