Despite their geographical proximity, shared history, and socio-economic linkages, the BBIN subregion – constitution by Bangladesh, Bhutan. India and Nepal – suffers from connectivity barriers that hinders cross-border access to goods and services, and people-to-people contact. To benefit from the immense potential for subregional trade and economic linkages, there is an urgent need to promote seamless multimodal transport connectivity in the subregion.

This paper explores some of the major connectivity initiatives and cross-border transport routes across various modes in the subregion, with specific reference to the North East Region (NER) of India which acts as a critical land bridge in the subregion, to derive policy lessons for future subregional connectivity reforms. It highlights some of the most important multi-modal trade and transit routes which are of strategic importance for the BBIN countries in terms of building interconnected industrial hubs, production networks, international gateways and ports. The paper argues for a comprehensive mapping of various ongoing corridor development projects in the subregion for building synergies between them and highlights the need for improving connectivity using digital trade and transport facilitation tools.