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Friendship Worth its Weight in Gold

by A H Jaffor Ullah
**Like Arkansas, Bengali folks are also great storytellers. We hope a new friendship would be forged today in Dhaka. This would be a long lasting and productive friendship. We hope Bengalis would talk about this day for years to come to their children and grandchildren.**
TODAY is an auspicious day for both US and Bangladesh. The President of the most powerful democracy on earth is visiting Bangladesh, a nation where democracy is flourishing for almost a decade, in its latest phase. Size wise Bangladesh may be a small country, as big as the state of Wisconsin, but the nation is home to more than 125 million proud people. Undoubtedly, President Bill Clinton's trip to Bangladesh would go down In the annals of history of this Gangetic delta as a historic moment. This would be a defining moment no doubt for lots of people young and old alike. They will remember this day for the rest of their lives.
Today is also auspicious for another' reason. America and Bangladesh are about to forge a new relationship based on friendship and mutual interest.
President William Jefferson Clinton Is nd stranger to deltaic land. The Arkansas River cuts across diagonally his home state and the mighty Mississippi River hugs the landmass to the East forming a natural boundary of his home state. He is the son of Arkansas, a state in the southern part of U.S., which is like Bangladesh rich in agriculture. Arkansas is pastoral and so is Bangladesh. Bangalee is riverine life, so is the life of Arkansas. Bangladesh's land is dotted with countless paddy and jute fields. Similarly, there are abundant paddy fields and cot-
ton patches in Arkansas running from Bentonville to the North to Crossett to the South, and from Booneville to the West to Helena in the East. President Bill Clinton would fell in love with pastoral view of Bangladesh provided he could slip away from Dhaka just for an hour to the bayou of rural Bangladesh. As a popular governor of Arkansas serving unprecedented five terms. President Clinton had crisscrossed rural Arkansas much of the 80s and 90s. Therefore. Bangladesh's riverine land with much verdure would be a sight familiar to him.
The year 2000 will no doubt go down in the history of Bangladesh as propitious point of time not only as the beginning of a new millennium out also as a turning point from the past, which is marred with violence and political unrest. Indeed, Bangladesh had been waiting for this day for such a long time. It ought to be pointed out that no sitting president of America ever visited Bangladesh. When the country became independent in 1971. the U.S. Secretary of State Mr. Henry Kissinger made a dire prediction about the future of this emerging democracy, which was proven wrong, after all. Little did Mr. Kissinger know at the time that Bangladesh would host one day the sitting president of America.
What makes Mr. Bill Clinton's trip to Bangladesh more
interesting is that this is the president under whose stewardship not only America gained prosperity but the nation was also able to skirt any war throughout the world. This is the best the world has seen in terms of peace in a long long time. Without any major conflict in the world, most nations on earth were able to chart a course of nation building. They reaped big rewards for that. They gained financially. The Europeans who were feuding among themselves a decade or so earlier are now united. They are reaping the benefit of scale of economy. It was President Clinton who pushed for NAFTA to consolidate trading among three North American countries - America. Canada, and Mexico. For some reason or other. Bangladesh and its neighbor were left out of this solid economic gain. We figured the boat has not left the port yet. Now Bangladesh needs America as a friend to help chart a new course to gain prosperity.
Not everything was sailing smoothly for American in the late 1980s. America was having
financial doldrums and malaise right around the Persian Gulf War in 1990-91 that accompanied economic recession at the time. Bill Clinton became president at that juncture. His fiscal policies worked somehow and America was on the move again. The economy of America blossomed so well that the nation has not experienced a single recession hi the last seven years. During his presidency, economic liberalization took place all over the globe. Thus, many more countries reaped the benefit of expanding economy throughout the world. Unfortunately, Bangladesh somehow was left out of this propitious journey. Bangladesh now needs America for assistance and guidance. The nation of 125 million now wants her fair share of the expanding worldwide economy.
Bangladesh is not so unfortunate as it seems from a cursory look at this nation teeming with millions of people. The nation is endowed with an eager workforce of millions of skilled and semi-skilled workers. Action speaks louder than the words. Bangladesh is proud
to be one of the major producers of garments. This tells us that Bangladesh's labors are eager to work and produce. If only Bangladesh gets a favorable treatment from America and is allowed to export more choice garments to the U.S. then it would bring much relief to the worker and the country would get a shot in the arm. which is very much needed at this time.
Bangladesh Is also very fortunate to have natural gas reserve buried beneath the ground in the northeast part of the country. The country needs technical help from America to explore and extract the natural
gases without harming the environment that is very delicate for the deltaic land. We already' had a disaster on June 14. 1997. in Magurchhara. which was caused due to callousness of a foreign gas driller. Not only Bangladesh did lose an estimated U.S. $ 135 million of natural gas. the environment was polluted beyond any repair for the time being. We don't want to see that happen again, do we?
President Clinton s visit to Bangladesh today is heralding a new beginning for this nation of 125 million people.
Bangladesh is most willing to cement a new but enduring friendship with America. Bangladesh is not asking for financial help. She needs technical assistance and more foreign investments to Jump-start the ailing economy. Bangladesh's thousands of garment workers are asking for more quotas from America. They would gladly fill the orders, which would help satiate the demand of fashion-loving Americans. Are these too much to ask. Mr. President?
We have been told that president Clinton will have a busy schedule today in Bangladesh. Amidst all the pageantry and protocol, we hope Mr. Clinton will not forget the common people of this deltaic land. He came here all the way from land of plenty to help the people of this land. No doubt, there will be Jubilation in the streets of Dhaka, and In the vicinity.
However, the folks who would be in the rural Bangladesh, in the heartland, would be anxiously looking forward to hear the good news. The news of a permanent friendship between the two countries. More quotas for the shipment of garments to America. The news of the future cooperation between the two countries in the field of energy exploration.
Like Arkansas. Bengali folks are also great storytellers. We hope a new friendship would be forged today hi Dhaka. This would be a long lasting and productive friendship. We hope Bengalis would talk about this day for years to come to their children and grandchildren. We all fervently hope that President Clinton's visit to Bangladesh would engender a new beginning for this nascent democracy.
The author works as a research scientist In America.