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Dhaka to consider gas pipeline from Myanmar

Saifur says rail transit decision soon
Pallab Bhattacharya, New Delhi
Bangladesh yesterday said it will seriously consider a gas pipeline through its territory to carry natural gas from Myanmar to India, and will take a decision 'very soon* on giving rail transit to India.
He was talking to journalists on the sidelines of India Economic Summit here.
Asked what Bangladesh looks forward to as a spin-off of the pipeline project India has been pushing for, Saifur said royalty is one of flic options Dhaka is looking at. "But these are yet to be discussed between the three countries and a decision could be taken only through negotiations."
He said there could also be a joint venture involving companies of
India, Myanmar and Bangladesh for the proposed pipeline.
Saifur however ruled out Bangladesh exporting its natural gas to India saying, "We have not even estimated how much exploitable reserves we have and how much will be exportable suplus."
Replying to another question, he said, "We are considering rail transit and a decision on this is expected very soon."
On India's plea for road transit through Bangladesh for carrying goods to and from northeastern parts of India, he said this is not possible right now because of bad road conditions in his country.
The minister asked India to give greater access to its market for goods from Bangladesh and remove tariff and non-tariff barriers for this. He
said he had conveyed this to his Indian counterpart P Chidambaram at a meeting here yesterday as well as with Commerce and Industry
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Minister Kamal Nath during an interaction on Monday.
"1 suggested to my friend Kamal Nath that as an experiment, you allow all Bangladeshi goods free of duties for six months and see (he result I don’t think Bangladesh’s exports would be more than 50 million dollars in addition to the existing exports," Saifur said.
Referring to non-tariff hurdles facing enhanced trade between India and Bangladesh, he pointed nut difficulties experienced by Bangladeshi importers and exporters in opening letters of credit with the State Bank of India in northeastern Indian states.
Saifur also pointed to India's insistence on obtaining certification of Indian standard- measuring insti tu-tions, saying some top companies of the world including cement major Lafarge are exporting their products to India. "How can you be sure of the quality oftheirgoods?"
Asked about the main subjects to be discussed at next month's Saarc summit in Dhaka, he said he expects the event to focus on trade among countries of the region and poverty alleviation.
He asked India as a big regional power to lake initiative to make Saarc a "vibrant organisation" and cited in this context how Germany, France and Italy had taken the lead in forming the European Common Market
despite opposition from some countries including Britain.
Saifur said Saarc's progress had been affected by "unhappy relations" between India and Pakistan. Now that the two countries have taken the initiative to sort out their differences through talks "R is very important that India takes the initiative to take forward Saarc."
He went on. "Had India been generous, Saarc would have become a success despi te Indo-Pak tension."
Earlier, participating in a discussion on "Creating a Dynamic South Askin Region" at the economic summit. Saifur said Bangladesh broadly endorsed all that have been proposed by India to take Saarc forward, and New Delhi must give some leeway io small regional economies.
He said it was for India to provide a fillip to intra-Saarc trade and make Safta work successfully for larger economic benefit.
Saifur said macro-economic fundamentals of Bangladesh under the BNP government were stable and die reforms he had initiated in his second term as finance minister in 1991 were back on track, making the country an attractive investment destination.
He claimed the reforms in Bangladesh had however slowed down when the BNP was not in power for five years since 1996, a veiled criticism of the economic policies of die then Awami League government.