India has longest coastline in Bay Of Bengal: Jaishankar

In a sharp counter to Bangladesh’s Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus's controversial remarks on India’s "landlocked" northeast region, external affairs minister S Jaishankar on Thursday said that the country's Bay of Bengal region has the longest coastline of nearly 6,500 km.

Speaking at the 6th BIMSTEC Summit in Thailand, Jaishankar highlighted India’s crucial role in regional connectivity and quipped that cooperation is not subject to "cherry picking".

"We, after all, have the longest coastline in the Bay of Bengal, of almost 6,500 km. India shares borders not only with five BIMSTEC members, connects most of them, but also provides much of the interface between the Indian sub-continent and ASEAN. Our North-Eastern region in particular is emerging as a connectivity hub for the BIMSTEC, with a myriad network of roads, railways, waterways, grids and pipelines," Jaishankar said.

BIMSTEC member countries include India, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

The remarks, with specific mention of the Northeast, are seen as a terse reply to Yunus who described Bangladesh as the "only guardian of the ocean" in the region while urging China to extend its economic influence to his country.

He added that India's northeastern states being "landlocked" could prove to be an opportunity.

Jaishankar rejected the notion that India’s Northeast lacks maritime access and highlighted its emerging role as a key connectivity hub.

“Our northeastern region in particular is emerging as a connectivity hub for the BIMSTEC, with a myriad network of roads, railways, waterways, grids and pipelines,” he said, adding that the completion of the Trilateral Highway would connect the Northeast to the Pacific Ocean.

In a veiled response to Yunus, Jaishankar stressed the need for an integrated approach to regional cooperation.

“We also believe that cooperation is an integrated outlook, not one subject to cherry-picking,” he said, reaffirming India’s commitment to strengthening BIMSTEC.