New Delhi, April 5 : Nepal's first billionaire, Binod K Chaudhary, has said that Bangladesh and Nepal could strengthen economic ties in energy and cross-border trade, with closer regional cooperation involving India.

"We would like to enter into a much bigger economic engagement with Bangladesh, but without India playing a positive role, that's not going to happen," Chaudhary said on Saturday at a press conference organised by the International Chamber of Commerce Bangladesh (ICCB) in Dhaka, according to a report in The Daily Star.

Chaudhary pointed to Nepal's growing hydropower capacity as a concrete opportunity, saying the South Asian country could develop projects specifically targeting the Bangladeshi market, with India facilitating transmission.

"India's evolving stance on cross-border energy cooperation offers a window for such initiatives. This becomes necessary due to geography. As Nepal is a landlocked country, trade of this nature depends largely on India's cooperation," he noted.

Binod Chaudhary controls Nepal's CG Corp Global. The businessman made it to the Forbes billionaire list in 2013. Forbes estimates his current net worth at $2.1 billion.

Also speaking at the event, Abdul Awal Mintoo, Bangladesh's Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister, referred to classical economic theory to stress the value of neighbouring markets.

He cautioned that reliance on natural resources alone cannot be a sustainable path to growth, noting that many resource-rich countries had struggled while trade-driven economies had fared better.

The Minister also said strengthening economic ties with adjacent countries should take precedence over distant partnerships when it comes to boosting trade and long-term growth.

Political considerations should not be allowed to override the economic logic of regional integration, he added.

The Minister said enhanced connectivity, energy collaboration, and trade integration among South Asian nations could unlock substantial economic opportunities, provided countries prioritise pragmatic partnerships over political constraints.

Nepalese Ambassador to Bangladesh, Ghanshyam Bhandari, said the two countries share similar economic challenges and aspirations, making cooperation in trade and investment both natural and necessary.

The longstanding bilateral relationship, he added, is rooted in geographic and economic interdependence, symbolically linked by rivers flowing from the Himalayas to the Bay of Bengal.

He identified stronger engagement between the business communities of the two countries as the practical vehicle for expanding bilateral trade.

The Ambassador said Nepal and Bangladesh have the opportunity to define their own economic trajectory through closer regional cooperation, with trade acting as the central pillar of that engagement.

/IANS