Monday, Jun 17, 2002
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By C. Raja Mohan
Having long sought ``duty-free'' access to the Indian market, Bangladesh is likely to jump at it. But to make a political impact on the relations which badly need a make over, the Indian offer on free trade needs to backed by assurances from the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, that New Delhi is ready to break the mould on bilateral trade with Bangladesh. New Delhi also needs to resist the temptation to link its offer to decisions in Dhaka that will allow transit of Indian goods to the North East and gas exports from Bangladesh to the energy-hungry Indian market. One good turn need not necessarily depend on another. If India acts in its own enlightened self-interest on freer trade with Bangladesh, it could create the political space for Dhaka to move on transit, which will generate considerable revenues to Bangladesh economy. Instead of insisting on a negotiated advance, through tortuous talks at the bureaucratic level, India must demonstrate it is ready for ``positive unilateralism'' in dealing with its smaller neighbours. India's unilateral actions could trigger off a virtuous cycle of economic integration between India and Bangladesh. Relations with Bangladesh are too important to be left to traditional ways of doing diplomatic business. Bangladesh is one of the few Islamic nations of the world where a fragile democracy is taking root; it is a large market for Indian goods and has a huge bearing on India's security and development challenges in the North East. The fact that it took nearly eight months for the new Foreign Minister of a key neighbouring country to come to India reflects the stagnation which now marks Indo-Bangla relations. Although New Delhi dispatched the National Security Adviser, Brajesh Mishra, immediately after the general elections in Bangladesh last October with the message that India is ready to do business with the new Government of Khaleda Zia, there has been little movement forward. But the unease in bilateral relations predates the return of the Bangladesh National Party to power. The initiative by the then Foreign Minister, Inder Kumar Gujral, in 1996 to clinch an agreement on sharing the Ganga waters with the earlier Government led by Sheikh Hasina had opened the door for a positive phase in Indo-Bangla relations. But the drift in bilateral relations since then has been captured by continuing clashes of security forces on the border, the glacial pace of negotiations on demarcating the remaining 6.5 km of the 4,090-km frontier, the Indian reluctance to think creatively about trade with Bangladesh, andthe unwillingness of Dhaka to move on transit and gas exports. Mr. Vajpayee can, however, break the stalemate with the offer on a liberal trading regime with Bangladesh. If the penny-pinching bureaucrats of the Commerce Ministry look beyond the immediate revenue-loss, they could find that freer trade with Bangladesh would facilitate faster growth in Bangladesh and make it a bigger market for Indian goods. On its part, Bangladesh needs to end its political posturing on transit between Indian mainland and its remote North Eastern regions. Just as freer trade is in New Delhi's self-interest so is allowing transit in Dhaka's. Further delays on Dhaka's part would only force India to look at alternatives. If they shed their past political impulses to ``beggar thy neighbour'', New Delhi and Dhaka could focus on problem-solving and create new levels of shared prosperity in the eastern part of the Subcontinent. This could be built around an accelerated schedule of talks to complete boundary demarcation and rapid movement towards freer trade and economic integration. But the political initiative for such a creative approach must, naturally, come from India.
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