HOPES have been generated for a new vista opening on Indo-Bangla relations in the sequel to the meet between Indian foreign secretary Nirupoma Rao and her Bangladesh counterpart Mijarul Quayes in Dhaka centring around the forthcoming visit of Bangladesh Prime Minister to India.
While a substantive improvement is expected both in terms of approach to and the content of bilateral ties with three deals said to be in the offing, a breakthrough has already been made in untying a knot relating to India allowing her territory to be used for trade between Kathmandu and Dhaka.
It is precisely for want of right to passage through India that the Bangladesh-Nepal transit agreement which the two countries had signed to boost bilateral trade in 1976 has remained unimplemented. This is now about to change. Actually, treaties existed with India whereby Bangladesh is allowed to conduct bilateral trade with Nepal and Bhutan on road. Now is the turn for the railway transit between countries involved to be made possible through an inter-connective infrastructure.
But there is a much greater potential associated with this positive development by way of optimising the benefits from a wider approach. Mere road and rail transit between the countries involved can bring limited dividends to them, but if Nepal and Bhutan are allowed to do third party trade through Bangladesh sea ports there would be enormous benefits to accrue to all the countries. The land-locked partners will get access to the sea and Bangladesh will earn in terms of tariff. So, we need to expand our thought process into the realm of greater regional connectivity and multi-modal transport infrastructure for the benefit of the least developed countries in the region.
Ever since Indian foreign secretary's visit to Bangladesh and her positive signals about breaking the impasse over right of trade passage to Nepal and Bangladesh, it has become a subject of discourse among experts here on whether the transit facility would logically mean Nepal being allowed to do external trade through Bangladesh sea ports.
When the two prime ministers meet we believe this point will be discussed with a positive decision taken on it, giving an impetus to the economies of the countries concerned.
India being the big neighbour in South Asia and an emerging economic power house can only be expected to play its due role in helping economic rejuvenation of smaller countries which would also benefit India in various ways.
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