The World Bank (WB) has come forward with money and mechanism to assist Bangladesh in tapping its maritime economic potential defined as ‘blue economy’. Officials said Monday the Washington-based development financier has held out nearly US$200 million worth of funds for exploring the possible resources which would be helpful for further growth of the country’s economy. An Economic Relations Division (ERD) official said the global multilateral lender already got down to work to help a survey in the sea and offshore areas under a technical assistance (TA) project. The Bank is providing funds worth Tk 99 million for study on the offshore turfs under the TA project for spotting the potential of the blue economy in the Bay of Bengal. Besides, the government is contributing Tk 1.5 million to the Tk 100 million TA project. “Consultants will first conduct study in the Bay of Bengal. It will find out potentials of the country’s untapped blue economy in areas like fisheries, tourism, oil and mineral resources,” said a senior ERD official. Thereafter, the consultant would prepare a development project proposal (DPP) for the investment project based on the survey results where the clear path of exploring potential resources in the Bay and their contribution to the macro-economy would be detailed out, he said. He said the WB would help Bangladesh under its ‘Sustainable coastal and marine fisheries project’ in exploring the untapped resources in blue economy here. The Blue Economy conceptualizes oceans and seas as ‘Development Spaces’ where spatial planning integrates conservation, sustainable use of living resources, oil and mineral wealth extraction, bio-prospecting, sustainable energy production and marine transport. The ERD official said this is good news for Bangladesh that the help would be forthcoming as the first-time support from a multilateral donor for exploring its untapped blue economy. “The WB has lot of expertise worldwide as it works on the blue economy across the globe. We are hopeful that the experts and consultants will give a clear picture of Bangladesh’s potentials in the Bay,” he added. Bangladesh established it sovereign rights on maritime territory through the win of international legal battles with neighbouring Myanmar and India. In 2012, the country won more than 118,813 square-kilometres of waters altogether comprising territorial sea and an exclusive economic zone extending out to 200 nautical miles (370km). The arbitration in the international court concerned was for dispute resolution between Bangladesh and Myanmar over the Bay ownerships. The same way, the verdict with India declared on July 07, 2014 also allowed Bangladesh’s sovereign rights on all the living and mineral resources in the Continental Shelf extending up to 354 nautical miles from the Chittagong coastal belt.