Prime minister's visit to New Delhi
AS the government prepares for Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's inaugural visit to India in the third week of December, India's Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao visited Dhaka on November 14, and the two foreign secretaries have reportedly finalised the agenda for the trip.
It is noted that whenever prime ministers meet at a bilateral summit, they are not confined to the agenda and may discuss any other burning bilateral issues as they deem fit and take decisions on them.
The visit is viewed as crucial to demonstrate a commitment to addressing bilateral issues, and the recent announcements from Dhaka and New Delhi are a mix of aspirations and good intentions. In most cases, the targets are politically achievable.
The bottom line of the trip is to begin a new era of relationship by adopting confidence- building measures to create an environment of trust and friendship between the two countries.
In my view, Bangladesh is faced with two possible approaches for what the trip can achieve.
The first is to follow the macro-list, which identifies topics that may require regional or sub-regional solution. This list includes matters such as the environment, energy, food security, utilisation and management of water resources, human trafficking, terrorism, smuggling of arms and sub-regional economic integration among Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and North-East Indian states.
Second, a few "deliverables" could be identified, and if implemented would significantly contribute to confidence-building measures and would create a positive image of India in Bangladesh.
Let me list a few such "deliverables:"
-Implementation and ratification of Indira-Mujib Pact of 1974, together with the exchange of enclaves, is important. Border forces of either side should ensure, before using firepower, that precious lives are not lost;
-Trade facilitation ought to be improved for enhancing trade and investment, including development of adequate infrastructure at land ports on both sides. More border points ought to be opened up for enhanced trade and investment between the two neighbouring countries. India may unilaterally provide duty free market access to all Bangladeshi products in its markets (out of 700, only 300 items are currently included);
-Trade, investment and connectivity are interwoven: one affects the other and all should be addressed together. This may include cooperation in the power sector, media and telecommunications. Regional connectivity through India's territory, from Nepal and Bhutan to Bangladesh, and vice versa, is to be provided;
-Acceleration of water-sharing agreements of major trans-boundary rivers within a definite time-framework can be achieved. Setting up of a website, which will be updated regularly to give all pertinent information on river flows, will be useful to the people of the region and is very important;
-Although Bangladesh has taken the delimitation of maritime boundary to arbitration under UNCLOS, it does not exclude bilateral agreement on the basis of fairness and justice, and such a process could be accelerated;
-On terrorism, the prime minister has already floated the idea of a South Asian Counter-terrorism Task Force, and both countries can meaningfully work within this proposed framework.
An integrated approach to all bilateral issues is imperative, rather than addressing issues piecemeal. In the past, India sought to negotiate a single issue on a bilateral basis, without appreciating that it was interconnected with other issues.
If India pursues its policy in terms of the "Gujral doctrine," trust and goodwill towards India will increase. The "Gujral doctrine" means strict reciprocity is not intended for smaller neighbours, and whatever accommodation India is able to make, it should it should do so without asking for reciprocity.
Contemporary practice acknowledges that governments alone do not bear the whole burden of bilateral relations. Bilateral relations are the sum of the many ways individuals and institutions, public and private, manage relations between Bangladesh and India. Both countries are required to make intellectual, educational, cultural, bureaucratic and media efforts on the positive features of each other.
Bangladesh's government, led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, received an overwhelming mandate from the people last year, and her government is keen to develop friendly and mutually cooperative relations with all its neighbours, including India. The prime minister's four-day visit from November 6 to Bhutan is a testimony to this fact.
It is an appropriate time for India to seize this opportunity to have meaningful dialogue and making tangible progress in some of the long-standing prickly bilateral issues.
The prime minister's trip to New Delhi provides a momentous occasion to elevate the relationship to a constructive engagement with India on matters that directly affect the people of Bangladesh.
India needs Bangladesh as much as Bangladesh needs India in the current regional and global environment. Let the Indo-Bangladesh relations move to a mature partnership on the economic, social and political levels for their mutual benefit.
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