Bangladesh has every right to demand a toll or usage fee for providing
transit facility, says the foreign advisor to prime minister.
In
an interview with bdnews24.com, Syed Gowher Rizvi said the amount was
usually to cover the cost of maintaining and improving the
infrastructure facilities for connectivity.
"…India, Nepal and Bhutan will pay such charges that Bangladesh deems appropriate," he said.
He stressed there had never been any question of Bangladesh offering connectivity facilities without fee.
"Nor in all fairness India, Bhutan or Nepal have ever made such a request," he said.
The
advisor said one "must not kill the goose that lays the golden eggs"
and in determining the rates, a country should not set prices that were
so prohibitive as to drive away the traffic.
He
criticised the idea that countries using the Bangladesh's connectivity
facilities should share a part of their savings on the cost of
transportation with Bangladesh.
"This argument is
tantamount to saying that all those ships that use the Suez Canals
should pay to Egypt a share of the savings that is accrued by avoiding
the longer route via the Cape of Good Hope," he pointed out.
Cooperation among neighbours
Future
of Bangladesh and the future of South Asia lay in working together and
cooperation, and not confrontation, Rizvi said.
"The
future lies in cooperative development – in promoting regional and
sub-regional cooperation, integration and interdependence."
The
problems facing the region today, including poverty, water scarcity,
global warming, terrorism, human trafficking and food security, were
multinational and trans-national problems, he said.
"These problems defy unilateral national solutions and require regional and cross border efforts," he suggested.
Mutual benefit
The
connectivity would strengthen the stakes of the neighbours in
prosperity, stability and security of Bangladesh, he felt.
"It
(cooperation) will attract investments, create jobs, bring services and
enhance Bangladesh's status internationally, both in tangible and
intangible ways," he added.
He, however, cautioned that all this would not happen automatically or over night.
"We have to create an environment in which our trading partners will feel secure to use our facilities," he said.
"Our
facilities will have to meet the international standards and we will
have to develop protocols, agreements and institutional arrangements,
so that we can safeguard our interests."
The advisor
said it was a must to break out of the existing intellectual jacket – a
troubling legacy from the Pakistani days – of viewing the situation in
terms of a zero-sum game.
"Our focus has to be on what we as a nation gain and not be too overtly concerned with what others derive," he said.
Govt position
Connectivity
lies at the core of the prime minister's vision 2021 to make Bangladesh
a middle-income nation, the advisor said.
"A major
purpose of the 'Digital Bangladesh' is to improve the quality of life
and bring prosperity to the people by harnessing greater connectivity
through information technology," he said.
"Bangladesh
is a rapidly developing country that is expanding its industrial and
agricultural production and constantly searching for markets to export
its surplus products."
China and India are attractive
markets of over two-and-a-half billion people with considerable
purchasing power, he said adding, "But we have not been able to take
full advantage of that largely because of poor connectivity."
If
the connectivity could be developed, trade, goods and people would
flow, making it attractive for other countries to use the facilities,
he said.
"At the same time, improved connectivity would
also enable us penetrate India, especially the northeast, and Myanmar,
Southeast Asia and China," he added.
"The more we are
connected physically and virtually, the better we are placed to take
advantage of the global markets, trade, investment, knowledge, services
and goods," the advisor said.
BD-India communiqué
"Prime
minister Sheikh Hasina's visit to India in 2010 restored and augmented
the prospects of improving our transport infrastructure," Rizvi said.
It
also opened up the door for enhanced regional trade, investment,
revenue and employment opportunities for Bangladesh, he said.
Nepal
and Bhutan would now be able to export to third countries through
Bangladesh ports and in the process southwest of the country would be
more firmly integrated to the rest of the country, he added.
source : bnews24.com
