Dhaka takes maritime dispute with Delhi to UN

http://www.newagebd.com/2009/nov/10/front.html#2

Dhaka takes maritime dispute with Delhi to UN
Shahidul Islam Chowdhury

Bangladesh has registered its objection with the United Nations to India’s claim over certain areas in the Bay of Bengal three months after a similar opposition lodged against Myanmar’s claim over sea waters.

‘We have submitted our objection to the maritime commission of the UN on October 29,’ Bangladesh’s permanent representative to the UN, MA Momen told New Age over telephone Monday evening.

India submitted its claim on maritime boundary to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf in May 2009, one month ahead of its deadline.

Bangladesh earlier lodged its objection with the CLCS, a UN body to deal with the law of the seas, in July this year against Myanmar’s claim on the sea waters.

Bangladesh and Myanmar sent warships 50 km down Saint Martin’s Island in November last year as the latter allowed a Korean gas exploration company to send survey team and equipment in the Bangladesh waters.

Dhaka has disputes over territorial waters in the Bay with both New Delhi and Yangon in two areas—that of natural prolongation of the continental shelf and the baseline.

India argues that the course of the natural prolongation of continental shelf is from east to west while Bangladesh says it is from north to south.

Bangladesh and India have some overlapping claims on baselines.

According to the United Nations Convention on Law of the Seas, Bangladesh must demarcate its sea boundaries by July 27, 2011, India by June 29, 2009 and Myanmar May 21, 2009.

The three countries are signatories to the UNCLOS.

As per the UN provision, claims submitted by any country would not be taken for final consideration before settling the objection raised by a neighbouring country which might have overlapping claims.

Dhaka opted to go for negotiations as India and Myanmar recently opposed Bangladesh’s offshore block biddings for exploration of oil and gas even within its own territorial waters as Dhaka did not have an internationally accepted exclusive economic zone.

Bangladesh has problems with India and Myanmar on the issue of ‘starting point’ on how to mark the coastlines from the exclusive economic zone that has apparently overlapped claims of the three neighbouring countries due to the funnel-like shape of the Bay of Bengal.

A country is supposed to enjoy its rights to fish and extract and explore other marine resources in its exclusive economic zone, an area of 200 nautical miles into an adjacent sea, according to international maritime law.

Myanmar proposes road network with China, Bangladesh

http://www.newagebd.com/2009/may/18/front.html#21

Myanmar proposes road network with China, Bangladesh
Reuters/Bdnews24.com . Dhaka

Myanmar has proposed expanding a planned road project with Bangladesh to link up with China in a tri-nation network, a senior foreign ministry official said on Sunday.

The proposal was made during talks between the Bangladesh foreign minister, Dipu Moni, and her Myanmarese counterpart U Nyan Win in Yangon on Saturday, he said.

China has friendly relations with both countries and is a major trade partner. With nearly $2 billion annual exports to Bangladesh it is the country’s largest trade partner after India.

Bangladesh and Myanmar signed a deal in July 2007 to construct a 25km road to connect the two countries and construction will begin soon, officials at the communications ministry said.

‘Both Myanmar and China are interested to set up the tri-nation road network,’ the statement quoted the Myanmar foreign minister as telling his Bangladesh counterpart.

There is no road linking Bangladesh and Myanmar, although there are two transit points along the border. Bangladesh will fund the road, most of which will be inside Myanmar, with only about 2km in Bangladesh.

Both countries believe that the road will help boost bilateral trade, currently worth only around $60 million, a spokesman for the Bangladesh foreign ministry said.

Bangladesh and Myanmar share a 320-km border, partly demarcated by the River Naf, a regular route for smuggling and illegal crossings by minority Muslims fleeing what they say is persecution by Myanmar’s military junta.

Tension rose between the two usually friendly neighbours last October when Myanmar started exploring for oil and gas in a disputed area of the Bay of Bengal, defying protests by Dhaka.

The Tipaimukh barrage

http://www.thebangladeshtoday.com/archive/February%2009/16-2-2009.htm#lead-h

The Tipaimukh barrage

Mahmud ur Rahman Choudhury

Planned dam at Tipaimukh on the Bangladesh-India border. SOURCE: http://www.sos-arsenic.net/english/groundwater/waterbattle.html

Three important events have taken place in Bangladesh since I wrote the commentary last Monday. These are: (1) The Indian external affairs minister has visited Bangladesh barely a month after the AL government took office, (2) Student agitations on various issues have again taken a violent and destructive turn and (3) The Indians are going ahead with the construction of the massive Tipaimukh barrage – all of these events collectively impinge on us in more than one ways but the one which directly affects our very ability to survive is the issue of water-sharing of some 53 common rivers between India and Bangladesh. By constructing Tipaimukh and other barrages, India is depriving us of life-giving waters, drastically reducing our ability to survive and therefore this is the issue needing immediate and continued public attention and the subject of this commentary.

India has resumed construction of the Tipaimukh barrage on the Barack river just a kilometer north of Jakiganj in Sylhet; the construction work was stalled in March 2007 in the face of protests within and outside India. The barrage when completed in 2012 is supposed to provide 1500 megawatts of hydel power to the Indian state of Assam but in return its going to bring about a major disaster for Bangladesh, practically contributing to drying up of 350 km long Surma and 110 km long Kushiara rivers which water most of the north-eastern regions of Bangladesh. The Tipaimukh barrage is going to seriously affect not only agriculture in large portions of Bangladesh, particularly in winter, but is also going to bring about negative ecological, climatic and environmental changes of vast areas in both Bangladesh and India.

It’s not just this one Indian barrage that is a source of considerable concern and trepidation in Bangladesh; in 1976 India put into operation the Farraka barrage which more or less destroyed the Ganges-Brahamaputra basin, most of which lies in the deltaic plains of Bangladesh and in 1990 India also constructed a barrage along the Teesta river thereby virtually making ineffective much of the Teesta barrage project constructed down-stream in Bangladesh to support irrigation and agriculture in the north-west region of the country. What is even more worrying is that India has evolved plans to divert waters, from the north of the country to its drought-prone southern and eastern states, of some 53 river which flow from India to Bangladesh.

Bangladesh shares a common border with India in the west, north and east and with Myanmar in the southeast. These borders cut across 57 rivers which discharge through Bangladesh into the Bay of Bengal in the south. The upstream courses of these rivers traverse India, China, Nepal and Bhutan. Trans-boundary flows, which enter Bangladesh from remote catchments extending short distance to thousands of kilometers upstream, are the important source of water resources.

Among the trans-boundary rivers, the ones most affected by Indian barrages and their related systems of canals, reservoirs and irrigation schemes are Ganges, Brahmaputra, Meghna and Teesta. Although the Indian and Bangladeshi governments have a water sharing agreement for the Ganges, there are none for the other 53 rivers that cross the border. With the Tipaimukh barrage now underway, India seems to be going ahead with its mega-project of diverting river waters from its north to its south and east, thereby putting Bangladesh’s very survival at stake.

As to how the AL government is going to handle this issue of our survival through water-sharing of common rivers between India and Bangladesh is difficult to say because right now the government is suffering from a sense of complacency and deja vu over “friendship” with India forgetting the fact that India is a state with interests to maintain and that Bangladesh too is a state with equally pressing imperatives to survive as such. India is taking unilateral decisions about matters which affect Bangladesh’s core interests and if these cannot be resolved bilaterally, Bangladesh must look at options of going to multilateral forums such as the UN to get its right not only recognized but also implemented. International laws dealing with water-sharing of common rivers and sources are ambiguous, unclear and contentious and so, Bangladesh ought to vigorously pursue these matters, perhaps even garner international support for a change in those laws dealing with water-sharing – this international dimension is a crucial factor affecting the management of the trans-boundary river systems. There is thus, no scope for Bangladesh to be deflected from this core issue of water-sharing notwithstanding Indian deceitful and diversionary insistence and propaganda on “terrorists and transit”.

Govt will build road, railway with Myanmar: Minister

http://www.theindependent-bd.com/details.php?nid=114330

Govt will build road, railway with Myanmar: Minister
BSS, COX’S BAZAR

Feb 7: Communications Minister Syed Abul Hossain said the government will start implementing election pledges from the south-east, building connecting road and railway from Ukhia of Duhazari to Myanmar’s Ghum Dhum point.

He said this after visiting the location of the proposed China-Myanmar-Bangladesh friendship road and railway at Myanmar border close to Ghum Dhum town yesterday.

The minister was briefing newsmen at the local BDR outpost following his visit to the spots including the Ghum Dhum point where Bangladesh also plans to set up a railway station.

He said the government has sent proposals to Myanmar government to this effect and awaiting response to start planning and other physical mobilisation.

Local MP Abdur Rahim Badi who accompanied the minister said the former Awami League government initiated the project 10 years ago and it will implement the project now.

The minister said the government is putting top priority to developing the road and railway communication in this part of the region. This is needed to develop the region as the strategic transit point for goods, business and closer people to people connectivity, he added.

He said the government is planning to spend up to Taka 21,00 crore in developing the communication system in the region. It will be part of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s far reaching plan to create a digital Bangladesh, he said.

The minister said Bangladesh government looks forward to open a new horizon in the area of trade, people to people connectivity and economic development of the region extended up to China in the east.

It will be the new economic zone to benefit all three countries of the region, he said suggesting it will not only develop tourism of the region but also bring boost to socio- economic development using the Chittagong port.

Beijing, Yangon back Dhaka’s plea for Asian Highway route change

http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.info/search_index.php?page=detail_news&news_id=48000

Beijing, Yangon back Dhaka’s plea for Asian Highway route change

Shakhawat Hossain

Dhaka has taken an initiative to join the UNESCAP-sponsored Asian Highway through its proposed route after getting green signals from Beijing and Yangon, said a senior communication ministry official Tuesday.

“We have already sent proposal to Yangon after receiving positive signals from Myanmar and China to back the country’s plea for route change,” said communication ministry secretary Mahmububur Rahman.

Dhaka has not joined the highway after United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) turned down its proposal on the change of route in 2005.

The country wanted Dhaka-Yangon as its main Asian Highway route although UNESCAP proposed Dhaka’s main route through India.

As per rules a country can bring about changes in the proposed route with the support of two member countries, which Dhaka failed to get from China and Myanmar in 2005.

The latest positive sign of support from the two countries was aired at the recent bilateral talks between Dhaka and Yangon, and Dhaka and Beijing, he said.

The chief adviser of the caretaker government undertook his first bilateral overseas tour to China last month and played host to a senior Myanmar leader in Dhaka last week.

The communication secretary said construction of a tri-nation highway to establish a road link among the countries, which Dhaka wanted to be its main Asian Highway route, was discussed prominently.

“We have made lot of progress on the issue during the talk,” added the communication secretary.

Ministry officials said they will ask the foreign ministry to raise the issue with the UNESCAP after necessary groundwork as any lack of initiative will isolate the country from a major project.

Communication expert Rahmatullah said the move is very good, but the country will have to deal with it very carefully.

“First of all, the country will have to sign the agreement as a member of the pact,” he said.

Without membership a country can not make any proposal for a change in the route, added the former UNESCEP official.

The Asian Highway was initiated in 1959 with the aim of promoting the development of international road transport in the region by linking 140,000 kilometres road network from Tokyo to Ankara.

During the first phase of the project in 1960 and 1970s considerable progress was achieved. However progress slowed down when financial assistance was suspended in 1975.

The UNESCAP revived the mega project in early 1990s and adopted in Seoul in 2001.

The Highway will cover some 23695 kilometres road network in South East Asia, 50422 in East and North-East Asia, about 20616 in South Asia and 46471 in North Central and South-West Asia.

Deepening economic ties with Myanmar

http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.info/search_index.php?page=detail_news&news_id=47371

Deepening economic ties with Myanmar

Myanmar, Bangladesh’s important neighbour to the east, has promising prospects for deepening economic relations with the latter. The economic relationships can blossom very quickly indeed if only the governments on the two sides want an acceleration in that direction. Thus, the on-going visit to Bangladesh by the Vice-Chairman of the ruling State Peace and Development Council of Myanmar, Vice-senior General Maung Aye, is seen as significant in the backdrop of recent high level visits to Yangon from Dhaka. The current visit to Bangladesh by the number two man in the government of Myanmar signals a quest on the part of both countries to try and exploit the potentials of economic cooperation between them.

Generally, the prospects of bilateral economic cooperation between the two next-door neighbours are extensive. Myanmar is considered to be rich in natural resources. But a great deal of these resources remains untapped. Geo-physical proximity, in the context of the situations in both the countries vis-a-vis the region and the rest of the world, makes Bangladesh an ideal partner of Myanmar for trade and investment related matters. The two countries enjoy friendly and good relations and the openness of Yangon towards Dhaka makes Bangladesh especially suitable for Myanmar to expand its trade and seeking of investments.

For example, Myanmar has huge fallow lands which are not producing any returns at the moment. Bangladesh has offered to rent and farm a part of these lands under either production sharing contract or any other form of arrangement. The materializing of this plan can be highly beneficial for both countries. Without any form of investment, Myanmar stands to gain from receiving large scale output of rice and other agro-products. Bangladesh can gain from a steady source of supply of food grain and other agro-oriented raw materials from an external but very near source for its upcoming industries. Thus, the government in Myanmar will certainly appreciate the merit of the Bangladeshi proposal in this regard and act in response to it, in view of the given socio-economic realities facing the two countries.

Bangladesh has offered to extend its road building activities inside Myanmar at its own costs up to the Chinese borders. The completion of such road construction will lead to an increase in bilateral trade between Bangladesh and Myanmar and also aid in trilateral expansion of trade between Bangladesh, Myanmar and the economic superpower, China. Besides, such road building will also bring Myanmar and Bangladesh closer to the East Asian countries like Thailand for greater trading activities with them. Therefore, Yangon is also expected to show real interests in these endeavours to improve road communication to give a boost to the regional trade.

Energy is one sector where both countries can engage in mutually supportive activities with no loss of time. Myanmar has huge reserves of gas far in excess of its current and projected rate of consumption. In this context, the proposal for having a gas transmission line from Myanmar to Bangladesh can serve useful purposes for the better and through Bangladesh, to any third country, provided a win-win situation is created for all to harness equitable benefits thereof. On its part, Bangladesh has always been ready to play a positive role in making concerted efforts for creating such a situation. Therefore, with similar position moves by Myanmar, the benefits of cooperation can equitably be shared by all concerned. Bangladesh also wants to buy gas from Myanmar and this can be made possible through a gas pipeline or an independent project. A proposal is also there to set up fertilizer factories inside Bangladesh using Myanmar’s gas and the related arrangement to share the produced fertilizers. A positive response to it from Myanmar can be a big step taken towards contributing to the food security of both countries.

Package of proposals to bolster ties : Myanmar agrees to export one-lakh MT rice

http://nation.ittefaq.com/issues/2008/10/08/news0092.htm

Package of proposals to bolster ties : Myanmar agrees to export one-lakh MT rice

UNB, Dhaka

Myanmar yesterday agreed to export one lakh metric tonnes of rice to Bangladesh on regular basis as Dhaka made a host of proposals for expanding bilateral trade and economic cooperation with Yangon to a new height.

The agreement came during official talks between Chief Advisor Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed and visiting Vice-Chairman of the ruling State Peace and Development Council of Myanmar Vice-senior General Maung Aye at the Chief Advisor’s office.

One of the major proposals placed by Dhaka is for installing a cross-border gas pipeline from Myanmar into Bangladesh to produce fertilizer here to meet Myanmar’s demand.

During the 90-minute talks, the two government leaders discussed early construction of a 23-km road linkage inside Myanmar at a cost of $ 20.3 million for direct trans-border communications.

The Bangladesh side proposed that the road link could be extended up to China to establish a direct land route connecting China, Myanmar and Bangladesh. The Myanmar side said they would think about the proposal, since it requires funding.

Briefing reporters at the CA’s office Foreign Advisor Dr Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury said the two leaders also discussed delimitation of maritime boundary, contract farming by taking lease of cultivable lands in Myanmar and repatriation of the remaining 21,000 Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh.

The two sides also focused on how to increase bilateral trade from the current $ 140 million to $500 million as Myanmar showed interest in importing more pharmaceuticals from Bangladesh.

Besides, they discussed intensifying military-to- military cooperation through training program and exchange of visits between the two neighboring countries.

An agreement on Avoidance of Double Taxation was signed after the meeting.

“Talks were extremely fruitful,” Iftekhar told the reporters. He said Myanmar’s Ministers for Energy, Commerce, Construction, Immigration and Foreign Affairs, who are accompanying General Maung Aye, would sit with the Advisors concerned tomorrow to follow up the official talks.

In reply to a question about tentative date for the construction of the 20-km road connecting Bangladesh and Myanmar, he said it would be clear after tomorrow’s meeting with Communications Advisor Maj Gen (retd) Golam Quader.

Asked about Myanmar’s response to Bangladesh proposal regarding supply of gas through pipeline for production of fertilizer in Bangladesh, the Advisor said there was no instant response, but the energy ministries of the two countries would further discuss the proposed venture.

On maritime boundary, the Chief Advisor requested the Myanmar General to use his political clout as well as a political direction from them for resolving the longstanding matter quickly.

About progress on Bangladesh’s proposal for contract farming, he said it is a complex subject and needs more discussions.

On procurement of rice from Myanmar, the Advisor said the Bangladesh side proposed to increase the quantum of import to one-lakh ton from 50,000 since rice production in that country got stable. The Commerce Ministries of the two countries will decide the matter in a couple of days.

About repatriation of the 21,000 Rohingyas, Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed proposed a tripartite mechanism involving Myanmar, Bangladesh and UNHCR for speedy repatriation of the refugees camped in Cox’s Bazar since early 90s.

Foreign Secretary Touhid Hossain and CA’s Press Secretary Syed Fahim Munaim were present at the briefing.

Bangladesh-Myanmar link road survey to begin soon

http://www.newagebd.com/2008/oct/07/front.html#4

Bangladesh-Myanmar link road survey to begin soon
Mustafizur Rahman

Dhaka is set to begin a survey on the proposed Bangladesh– Myanmar link road this month with the consent of Yangon.

The communications ministry has already requested the foreign affairs ministry to seek opinions of the Myanmar authorities in this regard, said a senior official concerned.

Dhaka may take up the issue of the proposed direct road link between the two neighbours for discussion with the vice-senior general Maung Aye, the vice-chairman of the State Peace and Development Council of Myanmar, who is scheduled to arrive in Dhaka this morning on a three-day official visit.

‘The survey on the proposed Bangladesh–Myanmar link road will begin soon… The construction work may begin in the middle of 2008,’ the communications secretary, Mohammad Mahbubur Rahman, told New Age in his office on Monday.

The contract for conducting the study and cost estimation of the trans-boundary road by March 2009 will be signed soon as the evaluation of the proposals was under process, official sources in the communications ministry said, adding that five consulting firms were short-listed for proposal submission.

Eight firms submitted expression of interest for the survey in response to the advertisement by the Roads and Highways Department.

The interim administration of Fakhruddin Ahmed after assuming office in January 2007 expedited the previous government’s move to establish the direct road link between Bangladesh and Myanmar to boost trade and commerce between the two neighbours.

The Planning Commission on March 10, 2008 approved an estimated fund of Tk 4.97 crore for the survey.

The governments of Bangladesh and Myanmar earlier signed a memorandum of understanding on April 4, 2004 to initially construct the 25km link road — two kilometres in Bangladesh and 23 kilometres in Myanmar — at an estimated cost of Tk 195.85 crore.

Later in July 2007, the two governments signed another agreement on the proposed road communication between Myanmar and Bangladesh, to be financed by Dhaka.

The project area includes Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh and the Arakan province of Myanmar. As per the memorandum of understanding, two task forces —technical and financial — were commissioned for the proposed link road.

The Bangladesh–Myanmar Direct Link Road Project has been initiated by communications ministry of the government of Bangladesh and the Roads and Highways Department is the implementing authority of the project.