THIRD DEPARTMENT OF PEACE AND CONFLICT STUDIES FOUNDATION DAY LECTURE
Address by Ms Veena Sikri, High Commissioner of India to Bangladesh
at Dhaka University
June 9, 2006
Friendship, Dialogue and Economic Cooperation
• Let me begin by thanking you for having invited me to deliver the Third Department of Peace and Conflict Studies Foundation Day Lecture . I am delighted to be here, and be a part of the 7th Foundation Day celebrations of the Department of Peace and Conflict Studies. I have been looking forward to interacting with you, particularly since your Department is well known as the premier institution in Bangladesh devoted to the analyses of trends in political conflicts, the factors driving such conflicts, and the policy challenges posed by the consequences of such conflicts.
• Whether as diplomats or as keen observers of international relations, it is our collective endeavour that the world at large and our immediate environs in particular become safer places to live in. We in India believe that this objective can be achieved by providing an ever widening space to liberal, secular and democratic values amidst steady economic growth combined with social justice. As our Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh remarked while addressing the Harvard Alumni meeting in New Delhi in March 2006: “In the ultimate analysis, it is not high rates of economic growth alone that will ensure social and political stability and cohesion. A better economic life must be accompanied by the strengthening of liberal values and pluralism”.
• It is but natural that our convictions about liberalism and pluralism also express themselves through our foreign policy, particularly since this perspective has been enshrined in our thoughts since ancient times, embedded in the Indian concept of “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam”, meaning the whole world is one family. As our Prime Minister pointed out in the same speech in March 2006, “the underlying strength of the [South Asian] region historically has been its commitment to pluralism and liberalism. The Indian sub-continent has been home to all religions and philosophies of the world. For centuries, this land has assimilated all those who have come here in pursuit of various quests. Our history is replete with instances of clashes of outlooks, values and beliefs. But our history also shows that over a period of time, there has been a confluence of contending views”.
• The theme for my address - Friendship, Dialogue and Economic Cooperation – epitomises the process that we in India have focused on to achieve our foreign policy objectives. In recent times, this theme has found an apt illustration in the manner in which India has expanded its relations within Asia, be it with ASEAN, BIMSTEC, SAARC or with more immediate neighbours like China and Pakistan.
• In 1991, the end of Cold War changed the geo-political landscape of the world and ushered in first strong winds of globalisation. Faced with challenges in the wake of such forces, India initiated new economic policies, and chose to connect to the new opportunities on offer by reaching out to our Asian neighbours. In doing so, our leaders chose to overcome the burden of history and march forward. The result has been that, today, India is one of the fast est and most dynamic growing economies in the world that is becoming a powerhouse of entrepreneurial talent in various sectors. What may have then been viewed by my generation as path-breaking policy decisions are now regarded as common-sense by the generation of today.
• Beginning 1992, India made a strategic shift in its relations with East Asia and South East Asia through its Look East Policy . The result is that India has already concluded a Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Cooperation with ASEAN in 2003 and with Singapore in 2005. We are developing a similar model with Thailand, and working towards Free Trade Agreements with Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan and the Republic of Korea. In 1992, we started as a sectoral dialogue partner of ASEAN. Today, we have regular Summit-level meetings with ASEAN with whom we have joined hands on a whole array of issues, ranging from regional trade and investment cooperation, to interaction on regional security and combating terrorism. India also participated in the First East Asia Summit that took place in December 2005 in Kuala Lumpur. The intensification of India's relationship with ASEAN is a vital element of our government's foreign policy. I n the last decade , India 's trade with the East Asian community of nations has overtaken Europe and the Americas as the largest bloc among India 's trading partners. A s a natural extension of the India-ASEAN engagement process, we seek to move to a broader and higher level where we envision an Asian Economic Community . As Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh said in his keynote address at the ASEAN Business Advisory Council in Kuala Lumpur in December 2005, “Like the North American Free Trade Area, and the expanding European Union, a Pan-Asian FTA will be a dynamic, open and inclusive association of the countries of our vast region”.
• Another key element in India's Look East Policy has been the region al grouping of BIMSTEC. India was one of the four original members who founded BIMSTEC in 1997 as a regional forum to recapture the many complementarities that abound in member states around the Bay of Bengal, be it trade, transport, energy, tourism or fisheries. Further, BIMSTEC acts as a very useful bridge between South East Asia and South Asia i.e. between ASEAN and SAARC. In a short span of time, BIMSTEC has been able to sign a framework agreement on FTA and moved from Ministerial-level meetings to Summit-level meetings the first of which was held in Bangkok in 2004. Bangladesh hosted the BIMSTEC Ministerial Meeting in December 2005 and India will host the next BIMSTEC Summit in early 2007.
• We have pursued a similar approach of reaching out in friendship and through dialogue and economic cooperation to move ahead in our relations with our most immediate neighbours China and Pakistan.
• During Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao's visit to India in April 2005, India and China signed a historic document that contains a vision of where India-China relations are headed and an action plan for cooperation. The two countries also reached a milestone Agreement on the Political Parameters and Guiding Principles for the Settlement of the India-China boundary question. These documents reflect the rapid stride s that India and China have made in bilateral cooperation . Equally, they indicate the urgency of our mutual desire to proactively resolve outstanding differences, while not letting such differences come in the way of continued development of relations. The Special Representatives of India and China on the bounday question meet regularly and have made concrete progress. In trade, the two countries have set a target of US $ 20 billion for bilateral trade by 2008.
• With Pakistan, notwithstanding cross-border terrorism, Kargil and attack on our Parliament, we continue to reach out to Pakistan for dialogue and have made steady progress in enhancing economic cooperation and people to people contact. Indian films have begun to be screened in Lahore after a gap of almost 40 years. We have opened up new highways and re-established rail links on both sides to facilitate trade and commerce and reinvigorate social and emotional bonds. At the same time, the two countries are moving forward on issues like Jammu and Kashmir and terrorism through a step-by-step approach based on a composite dialogue. Instead of looking at each other as adversaries, both our governments have had the courage to go beyond the misgivings of the past and to move ahead together in the interests of a better future for our peoples. In fact, while launching the Amritsar-Nankana Sahib bus service in March 2006, our Prime Minister expressed his vision of taking the bilateral peace process a step further by entering into a Treaty of Peace, Security and Friendship with Pakistan.
• India's engagement with ASEAN, China and Pakistan is an example of how vision and pragmatism can facilitate building of new edifices on old foundations. It is the very same context of friendship, dialogue and economic cooperation that is the determining factor in our approach to our bilateral relationship with Bangladesh. Most of us would agree that, today, the India-Bangladesh bilateral relationship is at levels far below its potential. Nonetheless, it remains our hope and endeavour to remain engaged on the entire spectrum of issues that would lend themselves to resolution in an atmosphere of goodwill, mutual trust and an open-minded approach. India offers to Bangladesh, and to all other SAARC member states, a vast productive hinterland that would provide to them far greater opportunities for growth than if they were to rely exclusively either on their domestic markets or on markets much further away. Let us not forget that the economic balance of the world is definitely and decisively shifting to Asia, with half the growth in world output now coming from Asia. It would, thus, be a pity if our two countries, or indeed the SAARC region as a whole, did not profit from such an immense opportunity that beckons them.
• India's links with Bangladesh, like with her other South Asian neighbours, are civilisational, cultural, social and economic. However, Bangladesh occupies a special place for India. There is much that unites us - our shared history and common heritage, our linguistic and cultural ties, our passion for music, literature and the arts . With Bangladesh , we share not only a common history of struggle for freedom and liberation but also enduring feelings of both fraternal as well as familial ties. Just last year, in March 2005, all of us were deeply moved by the spontaneous outpouring of grief and sorrow among the people of Bangladesh after the sad demise of Lt Gen Jagjit Singh Aurora. We witnessed similar expressions of warm sentiments on the occasion of his first death anniversary this year, as is the custom for a close family member.
• 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. While democracy remains India's abiding conviction, India has remained engaged with all governments and all countries in our neighbourhood. Our sympathy, of course, has always been, and will always be, with the secular, liberal and democratic forces.
• At the same time, let us recognize and accept that there are and will be differences among friends, and these differences need not necessarily stem from differences in size between very large and small neighbours. 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.
• Let us also recognise that neighbours everywhere are striving to reject conflict and confrontation. Interdependence in our times has emerged as the by-word that is guiding inter-state relations, posing ever new definitional challenges to theoreticians grappling with the Westphalian concepts of sovereignty, nation-state and national identity. Inter-dependence implies an emphasis on pursuing avenues of cooperation rather than giving primacy to differences. We have much to learn from the success that the European Union has achieved in this regard.
• 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 its own peace and prosperity is inextricably linked with that of its 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 mutually agreed basis in their economic development.
• Again, however, let us remember that the cooperation between India and Bangladesh, or indeed among SAARC members, has to be put in the broader context of Asia as the main driver of the world economy. If we are serious about tapping into complementarities and synergies, we must recognise the simple but fundamental fact of a changed world that the leitmotif of globalisation is connectivity. If there is no connectivity – whether physical or digital – there cannot be any effective globalisation, or even regional cooperation.
• Therefore, while we owe it to our citizens to make them a part of the dynamism coursing through the globalised arteries of trade in a resurgent Asia and beyond, we must, in order to make it happen, remove the barriers to the free flow of goods, of peoples and ideas within our own region. We must reconnect the countries of the subcontinent and then reconnect the subcontinent to the rest of Asia. This would require all South Asian countries to provide to each other, reciprocally, transit facilities to third countries, not only connecting one another, but also connecting to the larger Asian neighbourhood, in the Gulf, Central Asia and the South-East Asia. As our Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh reminded us at the last SAARC Summit in Dhaka, we cannot be the crossroads of Asia but remain disconnected within our own region. Without the latter, the former is not possible, or at least, will remain too limited to have any substantive impact.
• Let us acknowledge the fact that t he road, rail and waterway links that once connected the different sub-regions of South Asia remain broken. Transit routes that generate trade and create mutually beneficial dependencies remain closed, victim to out-moded and out-dated perceptions and mindset. So while SAFTA marks an important milestone of success for SAARC and holds the potential to push the current low level of SAARC intra-regional trade beyond the present meagre figure of 5% of SAARC's total foreign trade, its full benefits will be realized only if Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and other SAARC members are able to restore the long severed transport and communication linkages among member countries.
• Not surprisingly, in the absence of improved connectivity and transit, Bangladesh-India relations actually suffer and face degradation in the economic sphere. We have all heard horror stories about the difficulties faced at Land Customs Stations 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.
• What we do not normally hear is the fact that the vast majority of these horror stories and so called para-tariff or non-tariff barriers would disappear if Bangladesh were to accept the logic of improved connectivity and transit with India. Thus, if there was a 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 European Union, ASEAN and many other parts of the world. With a similar objective, India has been proposing 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, equally by road, rail and river.
• It is, therefore, strange that, in this day and age, there are still some voices in our region who distort the debate by speaking about the desirability of connectivity rather than about the width and breadth of connectivity.
• I have spoken about how India grasped the emerging economic opportunities in the wake of globalisation by reaching out to ASEAN countries through an approach marked by friendship, dialogue and economic cooperation. Implicit in such an approach has been a willingness on our part to have a dialogue with a fresh mindset on the basis of changed ground realities. And breakthroughs, generally, do not happen in the absence of a wilingness, first, to recognise the need for change, and then to approach the change with a new mindset. The 1996 Ganga Waters Treaty and the 1997 Chittagong Hill Tracts Accord are examples of such breakthroughs that have been based on a win-win approach, the validity of which has been borne out by the passage of time.
• Needless to emphasise, we need many more similar breakthroughs in our bilateral relationship, whether in the area of economic cooperation or connectivity or sharing of waters or settlement of boundary issues or cooperation on security matters. But, like I said, breakthroughs require each side to first acknowledge the reality and then a willingness to have a dialogue with a constructive mindset that is plugged into the realities of a globalised world. In the absence of such an approach , uninformed assessments gain currency and vitiate the atmosphere, as has, unfortunately happened between India and Bangladesh on many issues related to economic cooperation, border, water and security. For instance, the Foreign Office Consultations resumed only in June 2005 after a break of over two years. It is in the period when the bilateral dialogue process gets interrupted that suspicions and negative tendencies come to the forefront. Let me explain in brief with three more examples.
• Example 1. In the area of economic cooperation, the last bilateral meeting of the apex India-Bangladesh Joint Economic Commission (JEC) was held way back in July 2003 when India offered an FTA to Bangladesh. To implement JEC decisions, b ilateral Working Groups on Trade and Customs were expected to meet regularly every three months in an effort to dispel all differences on the so-called non-tariff and para-tariff barriers. The first two meetings were held more or less on time and actually achieved positive results by way of facilitating cement exports from Bangladesh to India and resumption of lead acid battery exports to India. However, subsequently, for almost 18 months, there was a breakdown in the dialogue process that led to negative consequences for perceptions among the business community about the process. Fortunately, in August 2005, the Working Group on Trade met again and the dialogue has since resumed. In fact, the Working Group on Customs met in Dhaka in May 2006. And thanks to our joint efforts, Bangladesh exports to India have registered a remarkable growth for t.,F
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• I have given you three or four examples of interrupted dialogue mechanisms and their negative consequences. The last example that I would like to give here has to do with the mindsets with which we approach a dialogue, and this pertains to water resources . Following the successful conclusion of the 1996 Ganga Water Treaty, this Treaty has been working well, to the best of both sides. Even during this year's dry season that ended on May 31, Bangladesh has continued to receive Ganga water as per the 1996 Ganga Water s Treaty. In fact, the flow at Hardinge Bridge this year , as measured jointly by India and Bangladesh, has throughout been in excess ( by a range of about 7-38% ) of Bangladesh's indicative share for each month during January-May.
• Subsequent to the 1996 Ganga Waters Treaty, the biggest stumbling block in our bilateral dialogue on sharing of the waters of our common rivers has been the nature of the debate on water resources in Bangladesh . The debate on water resources in Bangladesh 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 debate misses the central point that the crux of the issue is efficient management of existing water resources that are under strain – both in India and Bangladesh – owing to pressures of economic growth and, perhaps, also due to larger changes in climate patterns across the world. The problem of cyclical availablility of water, plentiful in the monsoon season followed by shortages in the dry-season, afflicts Bangladesh as much as it does India. India has 16% of the world's population but just 4% of its water resources. According to Asian Development Bank (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. In sharp contrast, Bangladesh's AWR is amost 9000 cubic metres, per capita, per annum i.e. nearly five times the level for India. 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 goes into 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 its dry season shortages. The solution lies in sustained, regular and constructive dialogue focused on management of our water resources.
• While we are on the issue of water, let me briefly refer to maritime boundaries, the subject of much debate in recent weeks. I would like to point out that, in the spirit of friendship, dialogue and cooperation, India has been able to settle its maritime boundar ies with all its neighbours in the Bay of Bengal ( Sri Lanka , Thailand , Myanmar and Indonesia ) except Bangladesh . We look forward and are ready for a similar constructive dialogue with Bangladesh to resolve this issue to our mutual satisfaction.
• Bangladesh has made impressive strides in various spheres, both economic and social. Not only are some of your social indicators the best in South Asia but also you have notched up several achievements from which we can all learn. The people of Bangladesh are strongly committed to deepening the democratic process and strengthening the institutions of democracy including the independence of judiciary, the holding of free and fair elections and your historic tradition of a liberal, pluralistic society.
• India would like to be a partner in Bangladesh's growth. One recognition of Bangladesh's immense potential for economic partnership and India's desire to be a part of it has been the $ 3 billion investment proposal by the Tata group . Apart from the impressive statistics of this being the single largest FDI proposal ever received by Bangladesh, this project would significantly contribute to reducing Bangladesh's adverse balance of trade with India, and increase Bangladesh's rising profile as an economic destination. We would hope that this proposal would receive a fair consideration on the basis of sound economic assessment and not fall prey to the retrograde politics of negotiation through the media. Indeed, the politicisation of issues of economic cooperation and partnership between India and Bangladesh is a major factor holding back progress and quick implementation of the same.
• Victor Hugo had once famously remarked that no power on earth can stop an idea whose time has come. Whether one likes it or not, globalisation and regional inter-dependence is one such idea. Peace and prosperity are more indivisible than ever before in human history. The challenge is to sustain peace and prosperity. And that requires robust institutions capable of civilised and informed dialogue in a liberal, pluralistic and democratic space.
• There is a palpable stirring among our peoples who are hungry for more prosperity, and faster prosperity. I have seen it in the dusty streets of rural India and I have felt the same in Bangladesh during my travels across the length and breadth of your beautiful country. I see it when new economy multinationals like Google and WIPRO recruit Bangladeshi nationals for their operations in India. I see it in the rush for Indian visas of which we issue about half a million every year. The onus is on us, as two sovereign democracies, to fulfill the aspirations of our people. For this, there has to be a change in attitudes, a recognition that we are united by common interests, that we have much to share and give each other and that our future is in cooperation rather than confrontation. As two democracies we have to contend with and address disparate interests. But I am convinced that our differences are not insurmountable and neither are our problems intractable. All we need is friendship, dialogue and economic cooperation.
Thank you.
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