Discussion:
Bangladesh To Opt Out Of Asian Highway?
(too old to reply)
n***@bigmailbox.net
2005-12-12 19:29:04 UTC
Permalink
http://www.newagebd.com/2005/dec/13/front.html#1

New Age, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Tuesday Decemebr 13, 2005

Dhaka sticks to its guns over Asian Highway route
By ZAHEDUL ISLAM and SHAHIDUZZAMAN

The government has asked the foreign ministry to pursue Dhaka's
proposed route for the Asian Highway and to ask for an extended
timeframe for ratification of the inter-governmental agreement to join
the 32-nation project.

'The meeting asked the foreign ministry to negotiate the route
further and to ask for an extension of the timeframe for the agreement
ratification,' the communications minister, Nazmul Huda, told New Age
after the weekly meeting of the cabinet on Monday.

The cabinet meeting, presided over by the prime minister, Khaleda
Zia, decided to stick to its proposed route-plan - Dhaka-Yangon
Road via Teknaf (route AH-41) - instead of the original route -
AH-1 from Tamabil to Benapole or Banglabandha - although a number of
Asian nations including China, Thailand and Myanmar have already turned
down Bangladesh's proposal for route change citing time constraint.

According to the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the
Pacific, the initiator of the project, the last date for ratification
of the agreement is December 31, 2005.

Earlier, the government requested China, Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam,
Laos, Cambodia and Sri Lanka to raise the issue in the joint-working
committee meeting on the Asian Highway to be held on December 14-15 in
Bangkok. But each of the counties has refused to do so saying that the
time was too short to change the route.

Having been refused, the communication ministry finally moved the
original Asian Highway route to the cabinet meeting for its approval or
to find ways to sign a conditional agreement, in case the government
wanted to stick to the route change plan.

Twenty-seven countries, including Japan, China, Malaysia, Pakistan,
Iran, Turkey and all the South Asian nations except Bangladesh, signed
the agreement in 2004 to link them through the 1,40,000-kilometre
network.

In June, the cabinet sent back the proposal for joining the Asian
Highway because of its reservation about the proposed route, which it
fears will eventually turn out to be a transit route for India.

It also asked the communications and foreign affairs ministries for
further scrutiny of the proposal.

The foreign ministry, however, favoured the ratification of the
agreement because of the importance of the road network in trade and
commerce and relations with neighbouring countries.

'Bangladesh may face isolation if we do not link ourselves with
the proposed road network. Joining the route will help Bangladesh to
strengthen its "look east" policy, especially its relations with
China,' said the foreign ministry in its opinion.

The foreign ministry also said that, according to article 15(3) of
the Asian Highway Agreement, Bangladesh does not have
any obligation to give corridor or transit to India or any
other country under the road network.

The ministry said the government should ratify the agreement first
and then bargain with the UN ESCAP to give AH41 AH1 status as articles
10(2), 11 and 14 of the agreement said only those countries who signed
the agreement could propose to bring any change in the route plan.

Route AH-41 is considered a sub-regional road in the Asian Highway
map.
=============================================================================================
http://www.thedailystar.net/2005/12/13/d5121301011.htm

The Daily Star, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Tuesday December 13, 2005

Dhaka's joining Asian Highway at stake Cabinet decides not to sign deal
without route change
By Rafiq Hasan

Bangladesh will remain out of the Asian Highway network, connecting 32
countries with Europe, as a cabinet meeting last night decided not to
sign the agreement without a change to the road map.

The deadline for signing the agreement is December 31, and the cabinet
has decided to send a fresh proposal to bringing changes to the route.
But the proposal is unlikely to be accepted unless Bangladesh signs the
deal first, according to sources.

Dhaka has been pressing for amending the route map and including the
proposed Dhaka-Myanmar highway as part of the Asian Highway network,
according to sources.

But UNESCAP (United Nation Economic and Social Commission for Asia and
Pacific) suggested Dhaka to sign the agreement first and propose the
amendment to the route. According to the rule, a country cannot have
the right to suggest amendment to the route before ratifying the
UNESCAP convention on the Asian highway.

Dhaka also failed to persuade some neighbouring countries to propose
amendment to the route before the next ESCAP meeting.

The proposed Asian Highway map shows two roads entering Bangladesh from
two points on the Indian border -- Benapole and Banglabandha. The roads
then run over Dhaka to exit through Tamabil to India. Bangladesh wants
an additional route to Yangon via Tenknaf to be part of the Asian
Highway.

Dhaka has been hesitating to sign the agreement with the existing road
map because of its political stand against giving transit to India.

At last night's cabinet meeting, some ministers opposed the idea of
joining the road network without getting assurance of changing the
existing road map.

They observed that joining the current network would mean giving
transit to India because both the proposed routes are coming from India
and also exit to that country.

Experts, however, observed that joining the highway network under the
current plan does not mean giving transit to any particular country.

The Asian Highway is just a road network and separate agreements will
be required to transport people and goods through the network. If
Bangladesh does not want to give transit to India it can refuse to sign
such agreements and yet it can join the network and upgrade its roads
to the Asian Highway standards, they pointed out.

=============================================================================================
n***@bigmailbox.net
2005-12-15 03:03:39 UTC
Permalink
http://www.thedailystar.net/2005/12/15/d51215110275.htm


The Daily Star, Dhaka, Bangladesh
December 15, 2005


Asian Highway Bill


The government of Bangladesh is unnecessarily dragging its feet to sign
and ratify the Asian Highway Treaty and have now put itself on the
verge of excluding itself from this network. The highway will connect
over 53 countries of Asia from the Mediterranean to the Korean
peninsula and will possibly be the backbone of future trade and
transportation in the entire continent and with Europe. But since the
beginning, there have been reports of Bangladesh disagreeing with the
network route and tried many times to change its alignment without
success.


As it presently stands, the highway enters into Bangladesh from India
and goes back into India. Bangladesh wanted to initiate a route that
connects it with Southeast Asia as well going through Chittagong and
Myanmar. But as it appears, none of our partners in that region, be it
Myanmar or China, are interested. Bangladesh even offer to construct a
section of the route in Myanmar that is in poor shape with its own
funds. Myanmar is not even interested to renew the existing border
trade deals with Bangladesh anymore. So what is our incentive of the
new road if there is no use? But we seem to be following the 'Go East'
policy like a holy citation though the 'East' is not interested. If
Thailand and the Malay peninsula is our preferred destination, we have
to realise that without the cooperation of Myanmar it is not possible.


The route that goes through Northeastern India can be used to transport
goods to and from East Asia and we should be prepared to do just that.
Leaving ourselves out of this network will only cause more damage to
us. The policy makers in Bangladesh may be afraid of trusting India on
this, but as our geography dictates, sooner or later the cross-border
movement of goods and trade will be a reality and it would only harm us
if we are not prepared for it. If we are reluctant to give India the
transshipment facilities through our land - naturally they would be
reluctant too to facilitate our trade with other countries through
Indian territory. We have to reach some sort of balanced agreement on
this at some point.


If we can persuade Myanmar in the future, and invest in the road-link
wisely, countries like India, China, Thailand will be interested in
using it for their own sake. That road may serve as a vital link
between the ballooning giant economy of India and the East. So I urge
the government to agree to the Asian Highway Bill immediately and start
working for the Myanmar-Thailand link as a side project. In addition,
we should prepare ourselves for increased land trade in the future with
Nepal, India, Bhutan and countries in Asia. We will have to use Indian
territory in most cases and we should be prepared to let our land be
used by India for the same reason. We cannot escape geography - thus we
should make the best use of it.

Loading...