The Hindu : Indo-Bangla talks on Monday

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jun 15, 2002

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Indo-Bangla talks on Monday

By C. Raja Mohan

NEW DELHI June 14. India and Bangladesh will have an opportunity early next week to overcome the current rough patch in their bilateral relations and explore the prospects for more intensive bilateral cooperation.

The Foreign Minister of Bangladesh, M. Morshed Khan, arrives here on Sunday night and will have a round of political consultations with the Indian leaders on Monday.

Official sources say India has been "looking forward'' to the first visit by the Bangla Foreign Minister since a new government took charge late last year and hope it could "augment'' New Delhi's ties with a "very important neighbour''.

The Government had strong expectations that the change of government would have no impact on bilateral ties and it could "do business'' with the new Prime Minister, Khaleda Zia, of the Bangladesh National Party.

But continuing political tensions in Dhaka between Ms. Zia and her arch-rival Sheikh Hasina who lost the elections and other developments tended to hobble Indo-Bangla ties over the last few months.

For India, the latest source of irritation is from some recent statements from Dhaka offering to mediate between India and Pakistan to defuse the current military tensions in the Subcontinent.

Bangladesh, too, has its own grievances on the tardy Indian implementation of earlier promises on giving greater access to its goods to the Indian market. Bangladesh has a huge trade deficit with India.

Talks between officials of the Commerce Ministries of the two countries in April did not go too well, with Dhaka making no secret of its disappointment at the apparently ham-handed Indian approach to the talks.

Mr. Khan is expected to reiterate the long-standing Bangla demand for "duty free'' access to the Indian market. On its part, India remains keen to get transit rights across Bangla territory to its North Eastern states.

Demarcation of the remaining segments of the border, and the likelihood of Bangladesh exporting its natural gas resources to India are among the other issues that could figure in the talks between Mr. Khan and the External Affairs Minister, Jaswant Singh.

There has been intense speculation in Bangladesh media that Dhaka might be very close to a decision on what to do with vast natural gas resources.

India remains the only potential customer to Bangla gas, which could generate much needed revenues for Dhaka in hard currency. But the issue is caught up in a huge domestic political controversy that has delayed the decision.

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