DHAKA, July 30: Pakistan and Bangladesh on Tuesday discussed the whole gamut of bilateral, regional and international issues, and signed cultural and technology exchange agreements to further the existing relations between the two countries.
President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia led their respective delegations during the official talks that lasted for 90 minutes.
President Musharraf briefed the Bangladesh leader about Pakistan’s initiatives to defuse tension in the wake of massive deployment of troops by India along the borders and the LoC.
He said tension in the region could not be removed without a peaceful resolution of the Kashmir dispute in line with the UN resolutions and the wishes of the Kashmiri people.
Briefing newsmen after the talks, Bangladesh Foreign Minister Morshed Khan said the meeting focussed on trade and economic relations and greater market access of Bangladeshi goods to the Pakistani market.
He said Pakistan agreed to provide tariff and duty-free import of raw jute from Bangladesh. Pakistan also agreed to provide similar concession to import of tea from Bangladesh up to 10,000 tons per year provided the WTO provisions permit it.
Bangladesh expressed its desire to expand the list of items to be allowed duty-free entry into Pakistan.
It was also decided that the existing Pakistan-Bangladesh Joint Economic Council would meet at least once a year to discuss further trade expansion between the two countries. Both the countries also agreed that the next JEC meeting would be held in Dhaka soon.
It was pointed out at the meeting that the Saarc grouping had failed to become an effective regional body because of contentious bilateral issues.
To a question on Kashmir issue, Morshed Khan said Bangladesh did neither offer nor would it try to mediate on the issue. The Saarc charter does not permit discussion on any contentious bilateral issue at the regional level.
When a questioner asked if Bangladesh sought an apology from the Pakistani side for its action in 1971, Morshed Khan said the Pakistani president was an honoured guest and this question could not be asked.
He said the visiting president had already expressed his regrets over the excesses committed by the Pakistani soldiers in what was then East Pakistan.
Morshed Khan said in April 1974, at the tripartite meeting between Bangladesh, India and Pakistan held in New Delhi, Bangladesh had given clemency to the 93,000 Pakistani POWs kept in India and announced that Dhaka would look forward to developing friendly relations with Pakistan on the basis of forget and forgive. The Awami League was in power at that time.
Besides, he said, former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina while attending a meeting in Cairo had a meeting with Gen Musharraf for 45 minutes. Again she sent former Foreign Secretary Shafi Sami, who had been Bangladesh high commissioner in Islamabad, as her special envoy to Islamabad to invite President Musharraf. In continuation of these forward looking foreign policy initiatives that President Musharraf’s visit to Bangladesh is taking place, he added.
On the question of repatriation of stranded Pakistanis, it was pointed out that the issue would be treated with sympathy after the problem of three million Afghan refugees living in Pakistan was settled.
The question of entering into a free trade arrangement between the two sides came up for discussion but it was felt that the issue should be discussed between the commerce ministers of the two countries, he said.
The Pakistan side consisted of Commerce Minister Razzak Dawood, Information Minister Nisar Memon, Local Government and Environment Minister Shahida Jamil, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Inamul Haq and Pakistan High Commissioner in Dhaka Iqbal Ahmed Khan. Foreign Minister Morshed Khan, state minister Riaz Rahman, Commerce Minister Amir Khusru Mahmud Chowdhury and Foreign Secretary Shamsher Mobin Chowdhury assisted Begum Khaleda Zia during the talks.
BUSY DAY: President Musharraf spent a busy here. He met some of his batchmates for a breakfast at the hotel before attending the formal talks with Prime Minister Khaleda Zia. He also met a business delegation consisted of the top industrialists and led by the president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry and discussed the possibilities of expanding trade and investment for mutual benefit.
Later, he attended a dinner hosted by Prime Minister Khaleda Zia at the Convention Centre Banquet Hall.
President Musharraf leaves Dhaka on Wednesday morning for Colombo and will make a brief stopover at Beijing.
STRIKE: A partial strike was observed in Dhaka on Wednesday on the call of main opposition party Awami League against the visit of Gen Musharraf.
Interestingly, Awami League after formally arranging a meeting with the Pakistani president had cancelled it at the last minute. Former Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and an AL leader Abul Hasan Chowdhury in a statement has publicly criticized the party’s policy, which he thought was against the diplomatic norms.