DHAKA, April 2: Prime Minister Khaleda Zia has decided not to sign any memorandum of understanding on the proposed Myanmar-Bangladesh-India gas pipeline until Dhaka sorts out three issues with Delhi. The three conditions are: (i)India must give transit facilities to Bangladesh for import of hydroelectricity from Nepal and Bhutan, (ii) Bangladesh should also be given more facilities for trade with the two countries and (iii) measures be taken for reducing the imbalance in India-BD trade. Dhaka has also decided to request Yangon to defer a meeting for signing of the memorandum that the latter wanted to be held in Dhaka on April 20. Bangladesh’s Energy Minister Mosharraf Hossain told newsmen on Saturday that ‘the government will send a reply to Yangon within a day or two, requesting that the date [for signing of the memorandum] should be deferred’.
