Foreign Minister M Morshed Khan yesterday told parliament that he felt his visit to India after assumption of power by the new Congress government would have positive impact on strengthening relations between the two countries.
Replying to a question from Delwar Hossain Sayeedi (Jamaat-Pirojpur), he said the Indian leaders have renewed commitments to work together for economic uplift of both the countries and establishing peace and solidarity in the region.
Khan said he visited India from May 31 to June 4 as special envoy of Prime Minister Khaleda Zia and handed over her letters to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress leader Sonia Gandhi.
During his visit to India, Morshed Khan said, he held meetings with the new Indian prime minister, his Indian counterpart, other ministers and political leaders and discussed bilateral issues.
During the meetings, Indian leaders had responded positively in resolving various unresolved matters through discussion, he added.
Replying to Mia Golam Parwar (Jamaat), the minister said that during his visit to India, he had discussed bilateral trade and investment, security matters, proposed river-linking mega project by India, and cultural and educational cooperation.
He informed that during the discussions, the Indian leaders had expressed their willingness to strengthen relation with Bangladesh and to resolve all bilateral issues through discussion.
He told MA Hashem (BNP) that Bangladesh had taken an initiative to sign a MoU with the Malaysian government for co-operation in the field of science and technology, and the matter was now under the consideration of the Malaysian government.
With such an agreement, Khan
said, the Malaysian public and private entrepreneurs could play a significant role in developing the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector of Bangladesh.
The foreign minister hinted in parliament that the defeat of Salauddin Kader Chowdhury in the OIC (Organisation of Islamic Conference) election was due to negative campaign by the opposition Awami League (AL).
He was replying to a question from Farook Khan (AL-Gopalganj) about the financial loss in contesting the election and the defeat.
Khan told Kader Siddiqui (KSJL) that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs left no stone unturned for the Bangladesh candidature in the OIC election. "We tried heart and soul," he said and hinted that "negative campaign by (AL) was the reason for the defeat."
Replying to Farook Khan, he claimed that the success of Bangladesh foreign policy was the highest in last 32 years.
He told M Sultan Mahmud Babu (BNP) that in the revised budget of fiscal 2003-04, expenses for the Bangladesh missions abroad were over Tk 146.34 crore although the allocation in FY 2002-03 was Tk 135 crore. The excess expenditure for the missions was due to the fall of taka against dollar and euro in the last fiscal year, he said.
Replying to Prof Shahidul Islam (BNP), the minister said Bangladesh peacekeepers are now working in ten countries under the United Nations.
The foreign minister said the country earned $ 84 million (Tk 504 crore) in FY 2003-04 from those peacekeeping missions. Since its participation in the peacekeeping missions, the country earned about $ 502 million (Tk 3,000 crore), he added.