Bangladesh keen on closer ties with India

By Our Special Correspondent

DHAKA, NOV. 18. The new Bangladesh Foreign Minister, Mr. M. Morshed Khan, has emphasised the need for closer relations between India and Bangladesh for mutual benefit.

A successful businessman-turned politician, Mr. Khan, who assumed charge of the Ministry on Sunday, told journalists that neither India nor Bangladesh could afford to have bad relations due to geographical proximity.

``As close neighbours it is in each other's benefit to maintain friendly relations''.

Mr. Khan said the issue of the export of the country's natural gas to India was not a ``sensitive one....because it will be dealt from a practical and pragmatic perspective''.

Answering questions on the issue which has already made the country's Opposition parties highly critical, Mr. Khan said, ``we will sell gas after ascertaining our reserve and meeting domestic requirements. And if we do so, we will sell it to the highest bidder''.

``If and when we decide to sell the gas, it might be to India which would be in a position to give us the highest price due to geographical proximity''.

He, however, believed that the country would have to quantify the actual reserve, formulate a gas policy, which included an estimate of its stock and projection of domestic utilisation over a period of time.

The new Foreign Minister also talked frankly about another key issue, the transit through Bangladesh to India.

``We must see it (the transit issue) both from a regional perspective and an economic perspective''. Bangladesh must see what economic benefits it would gain if the transit is given. ``We must see if 60-tonne trucks can ply on our highways, what would be the economic cost of building and maintaining the roads and whether that is recoverable from transit.....the bottomline is what our people are getting for any economic deal''.

Calling for boosting foreign investment through regional and sub- regional cooperation, Mr. Khan said economic diplomacy would be his priority.

Explaining the cancellation of next year's Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Summit in Dhaka by the new Government, Mr. Khan said ``it was in the fitness of things that after the September 11 terrorist attacks in the U.S., we called it off as we could not ensure security of so many heads of State and Government''.

On exodus of minorities from the country, following post-election violence, he said he had not heard of any member of the minority community leaving from his constituency (Chittagong).

``Why should any one leave the country? I have

not heard any one going because of suffering. One would leave if one had better opportunities.''

Mr. Khan said Bangladesh would take part in the peacekeeping operations in Afghanistan if any request was made by the United Nations.

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Section  : International
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