The Centre’s plan to implement a Motor Vehicles Agreement (MVA) among the BBIN countries (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal) and isolate Pakistan has received a jolt, with Bhutan refusing to ratify the pact. India is now exploring alternative options to operationalise it.
Incidentally, the pact, which seeks to achieve seamless movement of cargo containers, trucks and passenger vehicles within these countries across the international borders, was signed in the Bhutanese capital of Thimpu last year.
However, on November 15, Bhutan’s upper house, the National Council, rejected its ratification. While 13 votes were against the move, two were in favour and five members abstained from voting.
New Delhi is now exploring various options to operationalise the agreement. Sources told
India has also asked the Bhutanese government to reconsider the pact later, it when there is a joint session of both the houses. The lower house, National Assembly, has cleared the pact. However, the reconsideration can be done only after a year, as per the procedure there.
Nevertheless, India’s plan to single out Pakistan by implementing the pact has suffered a jolt by this rejection, the sources added.
“Bhutan’s trade is mostly with India — almost 75 per cent in 2015. Bhutan and India allow free movement of vehicles across their border.
“Therefore, according to Bhutan’s lawmakers, the BBIN MVA is not much of help to Bhutan in economic development. It is concerned about the environment,” said Prabir De, Professor and Coordinator (ASEAN-India Centre), Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS).
The pact can be amended with environmental safeguards, as there is a provision for that. Post that it can be resubmitted to both the houses of Bhutan’s parliament and also to the rest of the BBIN countries’ parliaments for ratification, De added.
While the BBIN MVA was a brainchild of the UPA regime, it was the present government that expedited its implementation, after Pakistan refused to sign a similar agreement among South Asian countries under the SAARC framework in 2015.
The Centre pulled out all stops to single out Pakistan and create a separate corridor among other SAARC countries with whom India trades over land routes.
However, if the agreement fails to get implemented, sub-regional trade will continue to suffer high transaction costs, and it may impact other sub-regional programmes on energy, social projects and infrastructure, RIS’s De said.