& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

TRI-NATION PIPELINE

Natwar rules out talks without Dhaka

Asks for lifting ban on yarn import thru' land port; Saifur for dev of port first

STAFF CORRESPONDENT
Indian Foreign Minister Natwar Singh yesterday proposed to resume talks on the Myanmar-India-Bangladesh tri-nation gas pipeline, and lifting ban on yarn import from India through land port.
After a meeting with Finance Minister M Saifur Rahman at the Planning Commission, Singh told reporters, "We talked about everything -- economic front, trade front, finance front, pipeline."
About the pipeline issue, Singh said he has got assurance from the Bangladesh side. As for Bangladesh's
FROM PAGE 1
participation, he said, "Yes, of course. Without participation of Bangladesh how can it take off?"
Talking to reporters, Saifur also said Bangladesh has agreed in principle to participate in the trination pipeline, but added that there are more issues related to it. The ministries of energy and foreign affairs will carry forward the next course of discussion, he said.
"Forming technical committees alone cannot take us anywhere. To resolve issues including trade barriers and disputed corridors, I believe decisions must be taken at the political level of both the countries first," Saifur said.
He added that such political decisions will then have to be conveyed to the technical committees for execution. "Inter-state problems can never be resolved without such a mechanism," the finance minister observed.
Saifur said Singh had informed him about import ban on some goods (yarn) through land port. "I told them we shall lift those barriers tomorrow, if you create suitable infrastructure at the port point to carry the goods," he noted.
"There are trade barriers in both countries," the finance minister pointed out. "We want healthy trade between India and Bangladesh. At the same time we don't want to see our exports facing barriers in India."
Citing an example, Saifur said Bangladeshi export goods are subjected to state intervention in West Bengal. "The Assamese businessmen do not open letters of credit for import of Bangladesh goods because they need permission of the central government."
"Again, we are asking India for a few kilometres of road access to Nepal -- but it won't give us the access," the finance minister noted.
"There are problems on both the sides. But international relationships should be based on mutual trust and bilateral interest. I have told them you are a big country -why are you afraid of us? Why don't you open up more? The bigger power should always come up first in any initiative," Saifur told reporters.
TRI-NATION PIPELINE
During two rounds of meetings in January and February on the transnational gas pipeline involving Myanmar, India and Bangladesh-one at ministerial level and another at technical level-- India had agreed
on three proposals of Bangladesh.
These proposals asked for a bilateral agreement between India and Bangladesh as part of the trination pipeline deal. Bangladeshi proposals also sought a corridor access through India to purchase power and other commodities from Nepal or Bhutan and measures to reduce trade gap with India.
New Delhi had asked Dhaka to place detailed proposals on these issues in a scheduled meeting in April. But the meeting did not take place before June and Bangladesh did not prepare any detailed proposal. And India suddenly changed its stance in early April.
According to reports from New Delhi by our correspondent, the Indian external affairs ministry objected to the Indian energy ministry's initial nod to Bangladesh's proposals. The external affairs ministry argued that a bilateral agreement between India and Bangladesh cannot be part of a trinational agreement.
India then signalled its disapproval of the bilateral agreement by inviting Bangladesh only one day before the next round of tri-nation gas pipeline talks in early June.
At the same time, the Indian media reported that India wants to go ahead with the pipeline project bypassing Bangladesh. As the invitation did not seek Bangladesh's participation clearly, Dhaka refrained from attending it.
However, the meeting between the ministers of Myanmar and India in June did not produce any encouraging results.
According to Dhaka's energy experts, the option to bypass Bangladesh in the pipeline project is not only costly but also risky. India will either have to lay the pipeline in the Bay of Bengal to bypass Bangladesh or have to install an extra 1000 km pipeline in its eastern states around Bangladesh to get the job done.
While the Bay pipeline concept is based on a risk factor due to the nature of the sea, the 1000 km extra pipeline in eastern India will not only increase the cost of gas transmission, but will always be a target for separatists of Assam, Nagaland and other eastern provinces.