Editorial
Cooperation with India
Indian State Minister for External Affairs Ajit Kumar Panja's three-day visit to Bangladesh occasioned more than a mere routine exchange of views with Dhaka's leaders and foreign affairs functionaries. There are some obvious reasons why an extra degree of importance was attached to Ajit Panja's trip to Dhaka: being himself a Bengali, he could be credited with a better understanding of our sensibilities and reflexes; secondly, he came here as a representative of an infinitely more stable governing coalition in India than the previous one; thirdly, he being a leader of the Trinomul Congress which is an important coalition partner of the BJP-led central government, his clout as a government leader has been considerable; and finally, there was the need for clearing the deck of concerns, both bilateral and regional, that had piled up since after the re-incarnation of the Vajpayee government.
The high level contact between the two governments has proved useful in yielding a better appreciation of each other's positions on issues such as: regional environment for security, utilisation of the full potential for bilateral cooperation and inclusion of other countries in the neighbourhood within an expanded network of cooperation. While the issues centring on transshipment, transit and multi-modal transportation have to be left to a thorough-bred study by experts, Dhaka's demands for a stepped up reduction of the trade deficits and sharing of the waters of common rivers other than those of the Ganges merited urgent attention.
It is our considered view that economic development of Bangladesh is not merely in Bangladesh's interest it should be of paramount interest to India as well. Not only do most of the anxieties in Indo-Bangla relations emanate from Bangladesh's poor economic conditions but also does India stand to benefit from a stronger, developed and thriving market in Bangladesh. The volumes of her trade with Bangladesh, both export and import, can increase if Bangladesh's economy expands and gets stronger. So India should consider it to be in her self-interest to help accelerate the pace of economic growth in Bangladesh. To enhance effective demand in Bangladesh, India needs to offer the much-awaited zero tariff access to Bangladeshi products. This will boost investment in Bangladesh, including that from India, the latter under buy-back arrangement which is regarded as central to bridging the trade gap with her. Given the size of the Indian market, an increased entry of Bangladeshi products into the same cannot pose any challenge whatsoever to India's business interest.
Economic cooperation between India and Bangladesh must be visualised farsightedly, well beyond the confines of mere rent-seeking as perceived in the case of transshipment.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments