Friday, Dec 19, 2003
Bangladesh, Nepal to start FTA talks
By Haroon Habib
DHAKA Dec. 18. Bangladesh and Nepal have agreed in principle to start talks on Free Trade Agreement (FTA) to boost bilateral trade in line with similar talks with India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The Commerce Ministers of the two countries will shortly work out the details of the FTA negotiation.
This was decided today during talks between the Bangladeshi Prime Minister, Begum Khaleda Zia, and her Nepalese counterpart, Surya Bahadur Thapa, who came here Wednesday night in connection with the SAARC summit, scheduled in Islamabad next month. Briefing reporters after over an hour-long meeting, the Bangladesh Foreign Secretary, Shamsher Mobin Chowdhury, said the two also felt the need for tripartite initiatives by Bangladesh, India and Nepal for harnessing water resources.
Mr. Chowdhury said that the meeting did not discuss any specific water project of India, but the two Prime Ministers felt the urgency of a tripartite arrangement for water management.
On bilateral trade, the two sides agreed that despite excellent relations, the current volume of trade was not proportionate to the potentials.
They agreed to improve the road-link facilities with development of land port infrastructures on both sides. Mr. Chowdhury said the meeting also agreed to approach India to allow transports through a patch of land called ``Kakorvita'' to boost trade between the two SAARC countries.
On the political development in Nepal, Mr. Thapa said his Government was fighting terrorism and invited Maoist rebels to talks. But he said, sometimes the insurgents deserted the talks and resorted to terrorism. ``Their (insurgents') aim is to bring one-party totalitarian system in Nepal, which is undemocratic,'' Mr. Thapa was quoted by the Foreign Secretary as telling Ms. Khaleda.
Copyright © 2003, The Hindu.