Address by H.E. Mrs. Veena Sikri, High Commissioner of India , at the
Department of International Relations, Dhaka University , on 7 th May 2006
THE FUTURE OF INDIA-BANGLADESH RELATIONS
My theme today is “Friendship and Dialogue, not Denial”. Let me begin with friendship – the single most important ingredient in any relationship. On friendship I can do no better than quote the famous and relevant words of Mahatma Gandhi, who said way back in 1927 that “Friendship that insists upon agreement on all matters is not worth the name. Friendship to be real must ever sustain the weight of honest differences, however sharp they may be”.
2. The first circle of friendship for India , the pride of place in our foreign policy goes to our neighbouring countries, including Bangladesh . India attaches the highest importance to friendship between the peoples of India and Bangladesh . Friendship between our two countries is based on our common civilizational heritage and, in contemporary times, on the shared principles and ideals that our respective nation States stand for and have fought for. Bangladesh 's Liberation War of 1971 was an epic struggle. Success in this historic event is a tribute to the indomitable spirit and courage of the people of Bangladesh who were determined to achieve freedom in order to build for themselves a society based on democracy, secularism and the rule of law. As we have seen in our own country to win freedom is one part of the struggle. To preserve and strengthen the values for which our independence struggle and your 1971 Liberation War was fought remains an on-going and if I may say so, equally arduous and life long struggle.
3. Repeatedly, situations arise that threaten the values on the basis of which liberation was attained. The series of bomb blasts that rocked Bangladesh on 17 th August, 2005 , constituted the most recent such situation. Leaders of Bangladesh have condemned these and earlier such attacks as heinous, cowardly and well planned acts of terrorism representing an attack on the independence, sovereignty and democratic values of Bangladesh. The arrest of the perpetrators of these attacks is a welcome development.
4. The Government of India had expressed its serious concern and strong condemnation of the events of 17 th August, 2005 , as terrorism directed against the friendly people of Bangladesh . We have offered any kind of assistance as may be required for combating terrorism. The Government of India has strongly rejected as unfounded and irresponsible the allegations made at senior levels about Indian involvement in these events.
5. A stable, prosperous, secular and democratic Bangladesh is not just in the best interests of the people of Bangladesh , but also of India and the region as a whole. During my stay in Bangladesh which now extends to over 2 years, I have had the opportunity to travel widely across your beautiful country, and to meet a broad cross section of the people of Bangladesh from all walks of life. I must say that the people of Bangladesh remain deeply committed to the spirit of 1971, to the values and ideals for which the Liberation War was fought. My second overwhelming impression has been that the people of Bangladesh want friendship with India . The people of Bangladesh consider that friendship with India is a natural and indeed desirable state of being between two such close neighbours, perpetually linked through the unchangeable logic of geography.
6. I would like to re-affirm that the people and Government of India, too, attach the highest importance to maintaining close, good neighbourly and friendly relations with Bangladesh . India on its part stands ready to do whatever is possible to take relations to a higher level, be they political or in the economic, social, trade and other areas. We recognize and accept that there are and will be differences among friends. But as long as we remain committed to resolving these differences through dialogue based on mutual respect, trust and mutual benefit, we can never go wrong and our relationship will remain on an upward, positive trajectory.
7. In the ultimate analysis, we see friendship as both the means to develop our relationship, to resolve our differences as well as the end objective of our bilateral endeavours. We can lighten our task in our common search for solutions if we agree that friendship must show the way and illuminate our endeavours till we reach a solution.
8. India respects the independence and sovereignty of Bangladesh and all our neighbours. Indeed our approach to friendship and good neighbourly relations was enunciated soon after our independence through the five principles of Panchasheela, namely, mutual respect for each other's territory, non-aggression, non-interference, equality and mutual benefit and above all peaceful co-existence.
9. Differences in size between very large and small neighbours do not in themselves present any impediment in the pursuit of friendship and good neighbourly relations, as we have seen in several striking examples across the world from Singapore to Maldives and from Bhutan to Belgium to Brunei .
10. India readily accepts that as the largest country in the South Asia region with the strongest economy, India has a greater responsibility in developing bilateral relationship with our neighbours. In this context, India has readily accepted the principles of non-reciprocity and positive asymmetry. As the larger neighbour we are prepared to give much more than we can ever hope to get. This has been amply demonstrated through the free markets that India has already established with Sri Lanka , Nepal and Bhutan and in the bilateral FTA that we have offered to Bangladesh . India is keenly aware that our own peace and prosperity is inextricably linked with that of our neighbours. We are as committed to our own sustained economic development and welfare of our people as we are to partnering our neighbours on a mutally agreed basis in their economic development.
11. The Indian economy today is among the most dynamic and fast growing economies of the world. Countries across the world from USA, Japan, Russia, China and the EU see India as a indispensable economic partner with whom they would like to develop mutually beneficial economic, commercial and service sector linkages. We ask Bangladesh too to recognize the opportunity for their own prosperity that better relations with India offers them. We would like Bangladesh to consider furthering their own prosperity, security and development in cooperation with India rather than in isolation. India offers to Bangladesh a vast productive hinterland that would provide to Bangladesh far greater opportunities for growth than if you were to rely exclusively either on your domestic markets or on markets much further away.
12. Today, while the logic and reality of globalisation are inescapable, the challenges of globalisation are increasingly daunting. In order to overcome these challenges and derive individual benefit from the process of globalisation, regional cooperation between Bangladesh , India and other countries of South Asia provides a logical solution. Yet, the first building block of regional cooperation is bilateral friendship and understanding. As long as there is bilateral understanding and agreement, all solutions are possible, whether sub-regional, regional, or multi-regional. Without bilateral understanding, regional cooperation will remain a structure without substance.
13. India remains deeply committed to the SAARC process. The SAARC provides a unique opportunity for the countries of South Asia to set aside their differences and focus instead on the all important issues of economic and regional cooperation. This very process of developing cross border economic linkages based upon the complementarities and synergies that exist among different SAARC members will help us to overcome perceived mistrust or suspicion and evolve shared position on our economic, political and security perceptions.
14. T he 13 th SAARC Summit held in Dhaka in November 2005 was noteworthy for its substantial and substantive outcome. The Dhaka Declaration is a significant document with its specific call for “serious result oriented efforts” and for “constant endeavours to translate pledges and commitments into concrete actions, regional initiatives and projects”. This focus on initiating project cooperation under SAARC auspices is particularly welcome. The decade of 2006-2015 has been declared as SAARC Decade of Poverty Alleviation. The SAARC Development Fund has been set up to serve as the umbrella financial institution for all SAARC projects and programmes. The SAARC Poverty Alleviation Fund will function within the SAARC Development Fund. India has already contributed US$ 100 million towards the SAARC Poverty Alleviation Fund to be used entirely on projects within SAARC but outside India . This offer was made at the Islamabad SAARC Summit but regrettably not even one project proposal has been received since then. We hope that with the streamlining of the SAARC Development Fund we will soon be able to move towards approval and implementation of projects. We also hope that our Prime Minister's proposal for a South Asian University will soon become a reality.
15. The Dhaka Declaration also strongly condemned “terrorist violence in all its forms and manifestations” and agrees that “terrorism is a challenge to all States and a threat to all of humanity and cannot be justified on any grounds”. The Dhaka Declaration expressed satisfaction at the ratification by all member States of the Additional Protocol to the SAARC Convention on Suppression of Terrorism and calls for putting in place effective mechanisms for its early implementation. In this context, the forthcoming meeting of the Home Secretaries and Home Ministers of all SAARC countries proposed to be held in Dhaka next week will be important and useful.
16. The completion of negotiations on SAFTA and its imminent coming into effect in the near future have marked an important milestone of success for SAARC. As noted in the Dhaka Declaration, this is a significant step along the road to a South Asian Economic Union. It is our hope that this process of regional economic integration will soon gather further momentum by expanding the scope of SAFTA to include trade in services, enhanced investment and harmonized standards. All of us are excited at the creation, through SAFTA, of a free market of 1.3 billion people. This will clearly push the current low level of SAARC intra-regional trade beyond the present meagre figure of 5% of SAARC's total foreign trade.
17. Yet the mere lowering of tariff and pruning of negative lists does not add up to a free market. To derive the full benefits of SAFTA all of us, particularly Bangladesh , India and Pakistan will have to work hard to restore the long severed transport and communication linkages among member countries. The road, rail and waterway links that once connected the different sub-regions of South Asia remain broken. Transit routes which generate trade and create mutually beneficial dependencies remain closed, victim to out-moded and out-dated perceptions and mindset.
18. True commitment to the SAARC process will be tested by the willingness to restore these cross border linkages and connectivities throughout our region. Otherwise SAARC and SAFTA will remain ineffective groupings with unrealized potential. Indeed, the provisions of the SAFTA recognize the importance of free movement of goods, and calls for adoption by all member countries of trade facilitation measures, such as transit facilities for efficient intra-SAARC trade. We recognize Bangladesh 's commitment to SAARC and the process of regional cooperation. However, the realization of this commitment will be tested through the logical corollary, that is acceptance of connectivities and cross border linkages. I believe that this acceptance can come if we work hard to develop the bilateral relationship between Bangladesh and India in every way possible. In short, improved bilateral and cross border linkages will, greatly strengthen the prospects for success of SAFTA, and thereby of the SAARC process.
19. Significantly, the converse is equally true, namely, Bangladesh-India relations actually suffer and face degradation in the absence of improved connectivity and transit. We have all heard horror stories about the difficulties faced at Land Customs Station like Benapole/Petrapole by our exporters and importers, and by individual citizens wanting to cross over on holiday or for medical treatment or for business. We have all heard horrendous descriptions of the so-called para-tariff and non-tariff barriers which are preventing enhanced trade and economic cooperation between our countries. I would like to state that the vast majority of these so called para-tariff non-tariff barriers would disappear if Bangladesh were to accept the logic of improved connectivity and transit with India . Thus if there was an passenger train service between Sealdah and Joydevpur there would be no need for the lengthy process of change of vehicles, Customs and Immigration that now clogs most Land Customs Stations. Similarly, if seamless containerized cargo train services were allowed between destinations in Bangladesh and India, the whole caravan of hundreds of trucks waiting on either side at our major Land Customs Stations to cross over, together with all the attendant complications of multiple checking, multiple weighing and interminable delays would disappear. Such containerized cargo train services are the norm in the EU, ASEAN and many other parts of the world. With a similar objective, India has proposed using our riverine connectivity with Bangladesh for developing containerized cargo services on barges, and also to provide access to Chittagong port for our North Eastern States.
20. All of us present here would agree that today, Bangladesh-India relations are at levels far below their potential. This is something for which both countries must take responsibility. We appreciate the impressive strides Bangladesh has made in various spheres – economic and social. We feel that between two neighbours who are as closely bound as we are the crucial factor in the steady development of our relationship to its full potential is constant and regular dialogue on all important issues. In this era of electronic media and instant communication, perceptions and mindsets can develop in unintended and unintentional ways, thereby contributing quite unnecessarily to tensions. It is only the determined commitment by both Governments to keep up the dialogue process that can lead to meaningful solutions and bilateral progress.
21. There have been references to the role of the media as playing a negative role in developing mindset creating wrong perceptions. I am a great believer in a genuinely free, unfettered and independent media. Very often, it is the absence of bilateral dialogue that allows uninformed assessments to gain currency. Only the reality check of a steady dialogue can prevent media reporting from acquiring negative dimensions instead of the positive contributory role that a free media should normally have.
22. Between Bangladesh and India there do exist strong traditions of a sustained dialogue. All breakthroughs in the years gone by such as the Ganga Waters Treaty, the CHT Accord and on trade and economic cooperation have been the outcome of precisely such a structured dialogue. It is in the period when the dialogue process has been interrupted that suspicions and negative tendencies come to the forefront.
23. The resumption of the Foreign Office Consultations in June 2005 after a break of more than two years was an important step forward in our dialogue process with Bangladesh . The visit of our Minister of External Affairs in August 2005 on a bilateral goodwill visit was a major success. Hon'ble Prime Minister of India was in Dhaka for the 13 th SAARC Summit in November, 2005. This visit contributed equally to strengthening our bilateral ties. The recent visit to Delhi in March, 2006 by Hon'ble Prime Minister of Bangladesh taking place after a gap of almost 8 years has helped reinforce the importance attached to our bilateral relationship by both countries.
24. It was at the last meeting of the JEC in July 2003 that India offered bilateral FTA to Bangladesh as a means of improving market access for Bangladeshi goods to the Indian market thereby reducing your adverse trade balance. Bilateral Working Groups on Trade and Customs were set up which were expected to meet regularly every three months in an effort to dispel all differences on the so-called non-tariff and para-tariff barrier. The first two meetings were held more or less on time and actually achieved positive results by way of cement exports from Bangladesh and resumption of lead acid battery export. However, for almost 18 months there was a breakdown in dialogue process, with its own negative consequences for perception among the business community about the process. I am glad that in August 2005, the Working Group on Trade met again and the dialogue has resumed. Last week, the Working Group on Customs met in Dhaka .
25. Thanks to our joint efforts, Bangladesh exports to India have registered a remarkable growth of almost 70%for this fiscal year 2004-05. Overall in the last four fiscal years since 2001-2002, Bangladesh exports to India have almost trebled from US$ 50 million to US$ 145 million. This has far outstripped Bangladesh 's overall export growth rate of 14%. I have one question for media here on this issue. Despite these statistics published by Bangladesh Export Promotion Bureau, there has been a deafening silence and absence of comment in the media about this. I wonder why.
26. There is also a well established structure for Bangladesh-India dialogue in the sensitive areas covering land boundary, security and border management issues. For Land boundary issues there has been a very effective mechanism of the Joint Boundary Working Group (JBWG) which last met in March 2002, nearly 4 years ago. At that time, India had given a package proposal for demarcation of the outstanding 6.5 km area of our border. We are still awaiting a response on this from the Bangladesh Government, and are simultaneously hoping that this Working Group, the JBWG, will meet at the earliest to resume yet another interrupted dialogue mechanism.
27. Home Secretary level meetings between Bangladesh and India resumed in September 2004 after a gap of 4 years. These meetings are essential to provide the framework for dialogue on the full range of security and border management issues. This is also the apex body for the regular bi-annual meetings between the Director General of BSF and BDR. India 's proposals for conclusion of an Extradition Treaty with Bangladesh as well as Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty handed over to the Bangladesh Government in 2003. These will provide the framework for solving a large number of serious security concerns on both sides. The BSF and BDR are all important ground level organizations in managing our border of more than 4,000 kms, one of the longest between any two countries.
28. Due to the porous nature of our borders, there is considerable cross-border criminal activity, which includes smuggling, illegal migration, illegal trade in arms and explosives, trafficking in narcotics, trafficking of women and children, counterfeit currency, theft and kidnapping. These cross-border problems pose a threat to social and economic well-being of both India and Bangladesh . The border fence India is constructing will help to check and curb such illegal activities. We have seen that in those areas where a fence is in place, there has been a sharp decline in illegal cross border activities, which has thereby contributed to peace and tranquility for the people living there. We have also proposed a separate high-level Meeting on Illegal Immigration.
29. With regard to sharing the waters of common rivers, I would like to reiterate that the biggest stumbling block in the post 1966 period, following the successful conclusion of the Ganga Waters Treaty, has been the nature of the debate on water resources in Bangladesh . The debate has centred exclusively on India . India is blamed for floods as also for droughts, for increased salinity along Bangladesh 's coastal region, for the so-called desertification of the country. The problem of cyclical availablility of water, plentiful in the monsoon season followed by shortages in the dry-season afflict Bangladesh as much as they do in India . India possesses 16% of the world's population but just 4% of its water resources. According to ADB statistics India 's Annual Water Resources (AWR) availability amounts to less than 1900 cubic metres per capita per annum, just a little above water stress level of 1700 cubic metres, per capital, per annum . In contrast Bangladesh 's AWR is amost 9000 cubic metres, per capita, per annum. Even more significantly, water resources utilization in Bangladesh, measured in terms of the total annual water withdrawal as a share of Annual Water Resources, is just 1.2% (i.e. more than 98% of Bangladesh's water resources flow into the Bay of Bengal without any effective utilization), while in India this figure of total annual water resources withdrawal is 26.2% of its AWR. Much more can therefore be done to use Bangladesh 's abundant water resources to meet dry season shortages.
30. The solution is sustained and regular dialogue focused on management of our water resources. Our experts can work jointly to find solutions. From India 's point of view, we are keen and determined to find solutions to these issues, to augment water supplies so as to mitigate the problem of cyclical availability, tackling the problem of pollution and encouraging private sector participation in management of water resources.
31. Patient and unflinching adherence to the dialogue process will, we feel contribute greatly to strengthening and deepening Bangladesh-India relations, so that they can reach their full potential. However, what does vitiate the search for solutions is resort to denial as a substitute for meaningful dialogue. Denying the existence of a problem does not make it disappear. It only allows the problem to fester and proliferate in undesirable ways, harmful to all concerned. Eventually, the very process of denial casts a negative shadow on our stated commitment to friendships and dialogue. Saying that illegal immigration does not exist does not make the problem go away. Denial, in this context, should also be seen as a reluctance to recognize that solutions are possible on even the most seemingly intractable problems. In order to progress bilateral relations, we will need to de-politicize solutions.
32. In conclusion, I am an optimist. I am willing to approach all issues and problems with an open mind. Any so-called mind-set is by its very definition an indication of a closed mind. So let us agree to work together to open our minds and hearts to each other, with the commitment to build a prosperous neighbourhood in a prosperous South Asia in the best interests of our peoples. In fact, I am reminded of a sign I once saw on a bill-board, which said “Minds are like parachutes – they function only when they are open”.