Bangladesh plans to upgrade Mongla, its second largest port, and to build a third sea port at Kuakata. The twin moves are aimed at providing greater sea access to neighbours India, Nepal and Bhutan.

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) has already been signed with David Wignal Associate, a Singapore-based private company. The upgradation of Mongla port to international standards could cost $3 billion, Mongla port authority chairman Commodore M. Faruk told United News of Bangladesh (UNB) news agency.

The project includes construction of international standard jetty, a power generation plant and a water treatment plant, industrial park and container terminal. It will ensure utilisation of port through transit trade with India, China, Nepal and Bhutan.

As per the agreement, all development work are scheduled to be completed by 2030.

The government has simultaneously started the groundwork for the country’s third seaport at Kuakata to facilitate India, Nepal and Bhutan to transit goods, The Daily Star newspaper said Monday.

Kuakata is currently a sea resort and tourist destination in Patuakhali district. It is located 320 km south of the national capital.

A technical committee that visited Kuakata last month and recommended the site for a port, submitted its report to the shipping ministry last week.

Shipping Minister Shahjahan Khan said everything will be finalised based on the technical report and added: ‘It’ll be a small port initially’.

A seaport in Kuakata will make movement of goods more convenient than through the ports at Chittagong and Mongla, the minister had said earlier.

Chittagong, Bangladesh’s prime seaport, handles about 90 percent of the maritime export-import trade with an average 10 percent yearly growth. The Mongla port handles the rest 10 percent of the trade.

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Just a day after Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee ended a five-hour official visit to Dhaka, Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Dipu Moni has said that Bangladesh is strengthening its road and railway connectivity to transform itself into a regional hub to give access of its transit facilities to India.

“I will not give you any deadline but the formalities (of proposed transit routes to Nepal and Bhutan through India) is expected to be completed by this year,” Moni said at a press briefing. “When we are thinking about transforming Bangladesh as a regional hub and when the entire region will be brought under the connectivity, India will have access to its northeastern states,” she said, adding “unfettered movement of people and goods will be taking place.”

Moni further said that the whole region would be benefited economically and added that Bangladesh could not remain isolated for long.

Rejecting opposition criticism regarding India??s $1-billion loan to Bangladesh, Moni said that Bangladeshi politicians must come out of the anti-India mindset that road and port development would only help India.

She claimed that there would only be a win-win situation once the connectivity would be in place. Moni added that the two nations would exchange letters instead of protocols to allow trucks from Nepal to enter Bangladesh??s Banglabandha land port and Bangladeshi trucks to Nepal through India.

The move will revive strained relations between the two South Asian neighbors, which have been at odds since 2001 when the Islamic-allied BNP was ruling Bangladesh.

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Trade beyond geographical benifit .This is a attractive opportunity is knocking at the door of Bangladesh to expand its business footprint in the North-East and Eastern India as the region welcomes external as well as internal investment, a former Indian minister said Saturday.

“Improvement in trade relations with the North-East India could even take Bangladesh up to China,” said Mani Shankar Aiyar, former Indian minister for development of the North-East Region, while speaking at a meeting in the city.

He made the comments at a meeting between visiting Indian business delegation and India-Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IBCCI) at a city hotel.

IBCCI Chairman Abul Matlub Ahmad presided over the meeting while Rajeet Mitter, Indian high commissioner to Bangladesh, Kiren Rijiju, principal secretary to the chief minister of Arunachal Pradesh, Dr K C Nihoshe, parliamentary secretary of Nagaland, spoke on the occasion.

The 38-member business team led by Mr Aiyar is now in Bangladesh on a five-day tour, which will also take them to port city Chittagong.

During the trip, the delegation will hold talks with Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Board of Investment and Ministry of Commerce.

Top businessmen from the sectors of information technology, shipbuilding, construction materials, apparels, power, pulp, tourism, airlines, telecoms, fast-moving consumer goods, agricultural products and health care consist of the delegation.

Aiyar said Bangladesh prime minister’s successful visit to India in January this year opened up unprecedented opportunities for intensified cooperation and economic integration between Bangladesh and the North-East and Eastern India.

He said until the partition of 1947 the North-East regions were prosperous, but now the region progresses at half the pace of the rest of India.

Aiyar, also a former petroleum minister, said the Indian government has earmarked 10 per cent of the national development budget for the underdeveloped region. “We have already spent 2.0 trillion Indian rupees out of 14 trillion rupees planned for infrastructure development in the region.”

“This however has opened up new opportunity for investment for Bangladesh in the region. The North-East India offers Dhaka an important opportunity for expanding market and investment,” he said admitting that balance of trade between the two countries is grievously out of equilibrium from the Bangladesh’s point of view.

He said during the 1965 India-Pakistan War trade between the then East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, and India was undisrupted. “Now there is an ebb. The historical economic relations can be restored if Bangladesh can exploit market in North-East India.”

“Opportunity is now knocking at the door and Bangladesh has to grab it,” Aiyar said.

K C Nihoshe said although small-scale insurgency exists in Nagaland, the separatists’ activities are limited to rural areas. “There is nothing to fear. Bangladeshi industrialists and businessmen can come up and invest in the province as we welcome both internal and external investments.”

Kiren Rijiju said without Bangladesh the North-East India is cut off from the rest of the world.

He said the central Indian government should integrate Bangladesh into their thoughts when they think about development of the North-East India. “This will help the region prosper. Bangladesh needs India and vice versa to achieve sustainable economic growth.”

Abul Matlub Ahmad said Bangladeshi industrialists are now mature to invest in large economies such as India and Turkey in the world. “Time has come for us to invest outside the country and bring back billions of dollars in profit remittance. We would like to request the government to allow us to invest overseas.”

He said the five-day tour of the Indian delegation will provide a unique opportunity to build and foster better economic ties between the two countries.

During the trip, at least eight joint ventures will be signed, the IBCCI chief said.

Rajeet Mitter said this tour would open up a window of cooperation between the two neighbouring countries. “Since the summit between the two leaders various steps have been taken to take the initiative forward.”

Former ambassador Farooq Sobhan, IBCCI vice-president Dewan Sultan Ahmed and directors of IBCCI were present during the meeting

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Protesting the government’s misdeeds and misrule.in protest at the misdeeds and misrule of the government, including acute shortage of power, water and gas, oppression on opposition leaders and activists, violence centring on tender manipulation, land and property grab by ruling party men, harassment of girls in educational institutions, politicisation of administration and deals signed with other countries against national interest.
Today a daylong general strike called by the main opposition party in Bangladesh. This is first such event in 3 1/2 years. The opposition party BNP had laid out the strike plan last month in protest of certain issues they have pointed out as government failure.
The general strike ( Hartal) is not a very popular mode of protest in Bangladesh. Yet opposition parties resort to this tactic more often than other means as they don’t find the alternatives to hartal as biting. One reason the opposition resort to this sort of day long general strike is because this makes the government feel insecure and vulnerable. For this same reason current ruling party Awami League resorted to 303 ( nearly a year) days of general strike since 1991.

Hartals are now more a test of the mindset of the government than anything else. Accordingly today??s hartal was an opportunity for the government to show how tolerant and democratic they are and a tool of the opposition to trap the government into exposing the government’s intolerant fascistic mindset ( if there is any).

Clearly the following photo assay shows heavy handed repressive acts of the government in a day which otherwise would have been a day of peaceful non-violent exercise of democratic right
Comments :
Hartal : Strike !!!Virus of politics: Many discussions held?by the political parties of Bangladesh. On white meeting they never support Strike, they even not get the new way rather than such a destructive and harmful event like Hartal (strike)?. To establish political demand if that is really the demand of maximum public, must can roar against Government. I am sorry to say that i never support such a political event which directly makes harm to public, what gain? I never clear. Hope many like me are not clear.

Time changed. we were under different political culture ,so at the beginning of independence -?we also needed Hartal as political demand.?Now?from my core observation. AFTER39 years THE NATION LOOKING FOR THE ALTERNATIVE AND EFFECTIVE WAY TO DIFFER WITH GOVERMENT. NO MORE HARTAL IS EXPECTED.

HARTAL IS A STRAIGHT VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS !!!!

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Bangladeshi police and protesters clash during strike,Police and opposition protesters have clashed in the capital of Bangladesh, Dhaka, amid the country’s first general strike for more than three years.

Police stopped marches and arrested about 200 people, officials say.

The strike was called by the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its allies to highlight the government’s “failures and excesses”.

It is seen as the first significant challenge to PM Sheikh Hasina since she took office in January 2009.

The BBC’s Mark Dummett in Dhaka says most Bangladeshis have heeded the strike call.

Public transport and most businesses remained shut across the country.

The BNP and it ally, Jamaat-e-Islami, accuse the government of failing tackle corruption and improve services.

They are also demanding early elections.

Bangladesh is due to hold parliamentary polls in 2013.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who leads the secular Bangladesh Awami League, said on Saturday: “The BNP and its stooges are out to frustrate democracy and create anarchy

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Hartal : Strike !!!Virus of politics: Many discussions held?by the?political parties of Bangladesh. On white meeting they never support Strike, they even not get the new way rather than such a destructive and harmful event like Hartal (strike)?. To establish political demand if that is really the demand of maximum public, must can roar against Government. I am sorry to say that i never support such a political event which directly makes harm to public, what gain? I never clear. Hope many like me are not clear.

Time changed. we were under different political culture ,so at the beginning of independence -?we also needed Hartal as political demand.?Now?from my core observation. AFTER39 years THE NATION LOOKING FOR THE ALTERNATIVE AND EFFECTIVE WAY TO DIFFER WITH GOVERMENT. NO MORE HARTAL IS EXPECTED.

HARTAL IS A STRAIGHT VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS !!!!

HARTAL : STRIKE REVIEWS .

26/06/2010DHAKA: Security has been beefed up in the Bangladeshi capital today ahead of the anti government general strike called by the main opposition BNP, amid fears of violence as the supporters of the ruling Awami League plan to thwart the day-long shutdown tomorrow.

Bangladesh Nationalist Party has announced a nationwide anti-government general strike tomorrow to oppose the ruling coalition’s policies, including “compromising national interests” by inking deals with India earlier this year.
Former prime minister Khaleda Zia, the chief of the BNP, announced the anti-government campaign on May 19 for “compromising national interests?? by signing deals with India during prime minister Sheikh Hasina??s New Delhi tour in January, oppose “tender-grabbing and extortions by government cronies?? and deteriorating utility services in the country.
The authorities and the supporters of the Awami League have said they were determined to crackdown on those creating “anarchy and disorder” in the country.
Dhaka metropolitan police has banned processions on the main roads in the capital and stepped up security to prevent any violence.
Dhaka police chief AKM Shahidul Haque told mediapersons that an additional 10,000 force will be deployed in the capital to maintain order.
He said police would not prevent the BNP from its planned strike, but actions would be taken if they try to create anarchy by vandalising vehicles or setting those on fire.
Pro-government Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) today announced that it would thwart the dawn-to-dusk general strike of BNP, triggering fears of violent clashes.
“So BCL will be on the field to prevent the strike by any means,” Mahmud Hasan Ripon, the BCL president, was quoted as saying by the bdnews24 online.
He expressed fears that the radical Islamist groups, including ‘Jamaat-Shibir’ could take advantage of the strike to create chaos in a bid to halt the trial of the war criminals accused of genocide during the 1971 ‘Liberation War’.
He asked the leaders and activists of BCL to stay on the alert tomorrow.
Law minister Qamrul Islam told reporters yesterday that the government had no plans to confront the protesters, but warned: “We will not tolerate anarchy or disorder during the hartal”.
BNP chief Zia has warned the government against creating any obstruction during the countrywide shutdown.
“The government will have to bear the responsibility of the consequences if it tries to obstruct our peaceful programme,” she warned.
BNP secretary general Delwar Hossain alleged today that the government had been arresting and harassing BNP leaders and activists across the country to disrupt the strike.
BNP-led four party alliance, including the Islamist Jammat have already declared their support to the strike.
During Hasina’s New Delhi visit, Bangladesh and India signed three agreements to jointly combat the terror menace while New Delhi announced a one-billion dollar line of credit to Dhaka.
India decided to give 250MW of power to Bangladesh from the central grid while they signed a power-sharing agreement. Bangladesh also promised not to allow its territory to be used for terror against India.
Political parties have frequently resorted to shutdowns and general strikes in Bangladesh to pressure the government, often leading to violence, political deadlock and seriously crippling its economy.
An earlier UNDP report calculated that the net loss in one day’s shutdown to around Taka 500 crore while it cost the country 3 to 4% of its GDP on an average every year between 1991 and 2000.

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Boosting up the trade relation between Bangladesh and India is to set up ‘border haats’ for trade .
India and Bangladesh will soon set up ‘haats’ (markets) along their international border in the northeast to boost local business and trade between the two neighbours, officials said here Monday.

Two ‘border haats’ would be set up along the Indo-Bangla border in Meghalaya while eight such ‘haats’ would be established along Tripura’s border with Bangladesh, senior officials and traders said at a summit on India-Bangladesh trade.

‘The first ‘border haat’ is expected to be opened in the next two months along the Meghalaya border in West Garo Hills,’ said India-Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IBCCI) president Abdul Matlub Ahmad.

Addressing the summit, Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar said: ‘Northeast India with a population of 43 million and market size of about $20 billion offers an attractive opportunity to Bangladesh.

‘Northeast India has rich natural resources like various horticultural and plantation crops, including rubber, which could be of interest to Bangladesh,’ he said.

The commodities to be traded in these ‘haats’ would include locally produced agriculture and horticulture products, spices, minor forest products excluding timber, fresh and dry fish, dairy, fishery and poultry products, products of cottage industries, wooden furniture and cane products, handloom and handicraft items besides materials useful for farmers.

The ‘haats’ would operate within 1.5 km radius of both sides of the border under close supervision of the border guards and customs officials of both the countries.

These ‘border haats,’ which came to a halt post-partition, resumed after a few years and stopped again after the 1971 Bangladesh liberation war.

Four northeastern states – Tripura, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Assam – share a 1,880 km border with Bangladesh, while India and Bhutan share a 643 km unfenced border.

The Tripura chief minister said that at present Bangladesh has a larger volume of trade with China as compared to India.

‘There is no reason why India cannot become the largest trading partner of Bangladesh, if the process of cooperation under SAFTA (South Asian Free Trade Agreement) is further intensified and all the barriers to trade and investment are removed,’ he said.

‘Most important cities of Bangladesh, including Dhaka, Chittagong, Sylhet and Comilla, are within 15 km of the northeast borders and towns,’ he stated.

The summit was organised by the Rajasthan-based Consumer Unity and Trust Society (CUTS) to boost and highlight the opportunities of increasing trade between India and Bangladesh focusing the northeast.

Stressing the urgent need to establish air connectivity between Bangladesh and the northeastern states of India, Sarkar said: ‘The ‘Maitree’ Express train service which runs between Kolkata and Dhaka should also be extended upto Akhaurah railway station near Agartala.’

Speaking about Tripura, he said that with a population of about 3.5 million, the state is also ‘a fairly large market of the size of about $2 billion’.

‘If the union government agrees, Tripura can supply power to Bangladesh from its upcoming two mega power projects (740 MW in south Tripura and 104 MW in west Tripura), which would start generating power within the next few years.’

The official trade between Tripura and Bangladesh has increased more than three times in the last three years and was about Rs.150 crore during the last fiscal (2009-10).

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Diplomats of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will soon visit the northeastern states to explore possibilities of promoting tourism and trade, officials said here Monday.

‘Union minister of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) Bijoy Krishna Handique held separate meetings during the past few days in New Delhi with the ambassadors and diplomats of ASEAN countries including Thailand and Myanmar,’ a senior Tripura government official told IANS.

Referring to a DoNER ministry communique, the official said that both the northeastern states and the ASEAN countries would benefit from trade and economic activities between the two regions.

Recently the directorate general of foreign trade (DGFT) issued a notification allowing more commodities for trade along the Myanmar border.

‘In addition to the 21 commodities, 18 more items have been allowed for trade between India and Myanmar,’ the official added.

The additional commodities which can be traded between the two neighbours include bicycle parts, life-saving drugs, fertilizers, spices, sugar, salt and stainless steel utensils.

‘Industry ministers of northeastern states during a meeting in Guwahati last week with union Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma also emphasised the need for boosting trade, economy and tourism between the northeastern region and the ASEAN countries,’ the official added.

‘As part of initiatives to improve connectivity between northeast India and Southeast Asia, the union government is considering a rail link from Manipur to Vietnam. Efforts are underway to have a rail link from Jiribam (close to the Assam border) to Hanoi in Vietnam passing through Myanmar,’ the official stated.

?mproved connectivity between the northeast and the southeast asian countries will not only help the region discover a larger market but also integrate India with these countries.

India’s northeast region is contiguous to China, Myanmar, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Nepal.

Tripura industry minister Jitendra Chowdhury told IANS Monday: ‘The Bangladesh government is developing infrastructure along the border with northeast India to give a further impetus to bilateral trade. India is also taking similar steps.’

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Foreign Minister Dipu Moni will visit New York from May 2-4 to attend the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference, a foreign ministry announcement said on Saturday.Earlier bangladesh supported the treaty.

The foreign minister will make a statement at the General Debate scheduled to be held on May 4 at the General Assembly Hall in New York.

She is expected to attend a bilateral meeting with Yukiya Amano, Director General of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), on May 3, according to the announcement.

BRIEF :

The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, also Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT or NNPT) is a treaty to limit the spread (proliferation) of nuclear weapons. The treaty came into force on 5 March 1970 and currently there are 189 states party to the treaty, five of which are recognized as nuclear weapon states: the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, and China (also the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council).

Four non-parties to the treaty are known or believed to possess nuclear weapons. India, Pakistan and North Korea have openly tested and declared that they possess nuclear weapons, while Israel has had a policy of opacity regarding its own nuclear weapons program. North Korea acceded to the treaty, violated it, and withdrew from it in 2003.

The treaty was proposed by Ireland and Finland and they were the first to sign.

The NPT consists of a preamble and eleven articles. Although the concept of “pillars” appears nowhere in the NPT, the treaty is nevertheless sometimes interpreted as a three pillar system, with an implicit balance among them:

1.non-proliferation,
2.disarmament, and
3.the right to peacefully use nuclear technology.
The treaty is reviewed each five years in meetings called Review Conferences of the Parties to the Treaty of Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. In addition, Sessions of the Preparatory Committee for the Review Conference take place on the intermediate years. Simultaneously, many events organized by independent institutions, groups of experts, think tanks and NGO’s take place worldwide in order to provide reports and recommendations that compliment the Preparatory Committees.

Even though the treaty was originally conceived with a limited duration of 25 years, the signing parties decided by consensus to extend the treaty indefinitely and without conditions during the Review Conference in New York City on May 11, 1995.

The next Review Conference will be held in May, 2010.

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Business and tourism in South Asia are increasingly being hit by airline inactivity caused by the spread of volcanic ash from Iceland.The export of garments and perishable goods from the region to Europe has been severely affected, as has the tourism industry in South Asia.
No country in the region has escaped from the economic impact of the crisis.
But officials say the priority is dealing with thousands of people across the region who are unable to fly.
Peak season

A spokesman for Pakistan International Airlines told that he expected the company to lose up to $25m because of flight cancellations to Europe.

The volcano will disrupt flight schedules for days to come
“Already 65 flights have been cancelled,” he said, “which has cost us something in the region of $10m. This cost will continue to escalate – even if normal services are resumed soon – because of the interruption to our schedules.”

The airline estimates that 16,000 passengers are stranded in Pakistan and Europe.

Tourism in India, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and the Maldives has also been badly damaged. For Nepal and Bhutan the crisis is even more serious because this time of the year is peak season.

We are worried that buyers may reject these shipments because they are so late

Abdus Salam Murshedy,
Bangladesh garment exporters
Officials say that at this time of the year Nepal can expect in excess of 40,000 tourists for the climbing season, about half of those from the US and Europe.

Many will not have arrived at pre-booked hotel rooms, meaning that hotels and guest houses in Kathmandu and Pokhara – which make their core income at this time of the year – will be without guests at a time of good weather and relative political stability.

At this time of the year tourism in the cooler north of India is also hugely popular.

According to figures from the Indian Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), 41,435 passengers have been affected by the flights crisis and it will take several days to clear the backlog.

All flights from India to London and Paris were cancelled on Monday, but Air India and Jet Airways resumed services to the US and Canada through Cairo and Athens respectively.

Many passengers whose visas have expired have been unable to leave the airport premises while several airlines are reported to have stopped paying for food and accommodation – arguing that they are not obliged to do so in the event of a natural calamity.

Meanwhile, exporters in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka have borne the brunt of exporting losses.

Huge consignments of garments in Dhaka and Colombo are waiting to be loaded onto aircraft. In Bangladesh an estimated 350,000kg of garments is stockpiled at the airport.

“We are worried that buyers may reject these shipments because they are so late,” Bangladesh Garments and Manufacturers and Exporters Association President Abdus Salam Murshedy said.

Perishable exports from those countries in the region exporting products such as tea, spices and fish have also been badly hit.

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