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Shipping links tops PM's Myanmar agenda

STAR REPORT
Coastal shipping links between Bangladesh and Myanmar will top the agenda when Prime Minister Khaleda Zia holds talks with her Myanmar counterpart today at Yangon.
A coastal shipping deal is likely to be signed linking Chittagong, Cox's Bazar and Teknaf to the Myanmar ports of Yangon, Akyub and Maungdaw.
However, Dhaka is interested to make it a tripartite agreement by including Thailand. Thailand will be included later if Bangladesh and Myanmar signs the deal, foreign ministry sources said.
Talks on setting up of a road link between Dhaka and Yangon are also underway. During a trip of the Myanmar foreign minister here at the beginning of the month, the
two sides agreed form a taskforce on the issue.
Khaleda flies off to the Myanmar capital today on a three-day visit on an invitation from Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council of Myanmar Senior General Than Shew.
Apart from strengthening economic cooperation, repatriation of Rohingya refugees will also come up during the talks.
"We expect Myanmar to take its nationals (Rohiyangas) as soon as possible and this is also necessary to keep peace on the border," Foreign Minister M Morshed Khan said yesterday.
He is hopeful that the issue would be resolved as the two nations vowed to strengthen bilateral relations. Earlier, Myanmar said the refugees would be taken back only after a verification of their identity.
During the prime minister's visit, Bangladesh and Myanmar will set up a joint trade commission headed by commerce ministers of the two countries.
A foreign ministerial joint commission will also be set up to oversee bilateral relations.
The two neighbours are expected to pen agreements to introduce "accounts trade" that would initiate two-way transactions of goods without the need for cash payment.
They will also change the existing border trade agreement signed in 1994 to prohibit trading of third country products, sources at the commerce ministry said. Manufactured goods will require at least 30 per cent value addition for trading.
"Implementation of the agreements will substantially increase bilateral trade, while the current informal trade will be gradually turned into formal trade, " Commerce Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury said.
The bilateral trade is tilted in favour of Myanmar and the unofficial trade volume is much bigger than the formal one, according to business sources.
In 2001-02 fiscal, Bangladesh's imports from Myanmar cost US$16.94 million while exports fetched only about $2.39 million.
Unofficial import figures stand at about $170 million as most of Myanmar goods are shipped to Singapore port and unloaded here as Singaporean products. Bangladesh's export is expected to be over $50 million, business sources said.
During the prime minister's visit, the Export Promotion Bureau has arranged a Bangladesh Trade Fair with 90 stalls to showcase 36-category potential export products. Some 200 Bangladeshi businessmen are expected to attend the fair.
The prime minister is leading a 50-member delegation that includes Foreign Minister Morshed Khan, Communications Minister Barrister Nazmul Huda and Commerce Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury.
A 16-member business delegation and a cultural team will be accompanying the prime minister.