Abstract The transit trade problems of Afghanistan are typical to any other landlocked country. As a landlocked country, Afghanistan has relied on Pakistan for its international trade. However, the transit trade of Afghanistan has remained unstable akin to escalated political relations between the two countries. Given economic importance of access to sea, the landlocked countries continued to raise their voice at the United Nations.

The Dokalam crisis, i.e. the border stand-off between China and India, which had kept the bilateral ties between the two neighbouring countries on the boil for over two months, came to a peaceful resolution on Aug 28, 2017, with both sides disengaging their troops from what had seemed like an eyeball to eyeball confrontation. While the crisis has been resolved for now, its recurrence in some form or the other along the India-China border cannot be ruled out, especially with China taking the unsettled border as an excuse to push its territorial claims in contested territories.

Following up on Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s highly successful and ‘historic’ visit to India undertaken in the month of April, the Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF) organised a Round Table Discussion (RTD) on 06 Jun 2017 with Dr. Gowher Rizvi, Advisor to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh on international relation.

16-17 May 2017, the VIF and Pathfinder Foundation, Sri Lanka, jointly held a three-session Round Table Discussion on India-Sri Lanka bilateral cooperation. The focus was on promoting ‘blue economy’, relatively a new concept that focuses on sustainable exploitation of marine resources for benefits of the world in general and that for the coastal states in particular. The first session focused on sustainable exploitation of aquatic living resources like fish and other life forms.