Bangladesh’s Maritime Security: Emerging Threats and Responses
“The major elements of the BoB [Bay of Bengal] maritime security environment are enmeshed with intra-regional and extra-regional dynamics. The intra-regional maritime security environment has been influenced by an array of developments that have taken place over the past twenty years, including the rise of India as a formidable maritime power; a new salience of the BoB in the context of shifting strategies of the United States through rebalancing; the peaceful resolution of maritime boundary disputes of Bangladesh with Myanmar and India; a new stride of regional cooperation based on the BoB Initiative for Multisectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) in the context of the stalemate of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC); and Myanmar’s aggressive behavior, as reflected in the case of the Rohingya crisis.”
“Non-traditional security concerns in the BoB and wider Indian Ocean present the greatest maritime security threats to Bangladesh. First, port security has recently become a priority area for Bangladesh. Bangladesh has three sea ports – Chattogram, Mongla, and Payra. Threats to port security in Bangladesh include theft and robbery, piracy, rough weather, contamination and pollution, lack of modern equipment, problem of dredging, poor infrastructure, and regional rivalry about port development. The country’s first deep-sea port, Matarbari, is also under construction. The Chattogram sea port, as Bangladesh’s oldest, is the lifeline of national foreign trade. More than 90 percent of goods from Bangladesh are transported through sea routes. The main livelihood of people in the coastal zones are based on the sea and ocean. The security of these ports is crucial for national economic development.”