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Indo- Bangladesh Framework Agreement
Indo-
Bangladesh Framework Agreement
THE prime ministers of Bangladesh and India signed the "Framework Agreement on Cooperation and Development" on September 6 last year. It appears that the
Agreement has not received the examination that it deserves although the accord covers cooperation with India in almost all matters and ushers in a new phase of Indo -Bangladesh relations.
In the past, India always insisted on dealing with Bangladesh on the Ganges water issue at a bilateral level and rejected Bangladesh's proposal in the '70s for engaging co-riparian Nepal for the augmentation of the waters of the Ganges. It is a good sign that, by signing the Agreement, India has departed from its past stance of bilateralism and has finally agreed on cooperation at sub-regional and regional level in areas such as, water, energy, food security and environmental degradation.
To illustrate the above position, we may cite the last paragraph of the preamble of the Agreement, which states: "Convinced that cooperation at the bilateral, subregional and regional levels will accelerate development and enable the two countries to realise their developmental aspirations, shared destiny and common vision of a peaceful and prosperous South Asia." The Agreement consists of 12 Articles.
Article 1 deals with promotion of trade, investment and economic cooperation through removal of progressively tariff, non-tariff barriers and facilitate trade through connectivity for bilateral and subregional use. Article 2 speaks of water sharing of common rivers through exploring the possibilities of common basin management of common rivers. Article 3 deals with technical cooperation and exchange of information with respect to natural disasters. Article 4 discusses cooperation in energy including renewable resources.
Article 5 deals with promotion of scientific, cultural, educational and people to people exchange. Article 6 enumerates cooperation in environment protection. Article 7 speaks of sub-regional cooperation in the power sector, water resources management, and physical connectivity. Article 8 deals with cooperation on issues relating to their national interests. Article 9 speaks of cooperation in security and reiterates that neither party shall allow the use of its territory for activities harmful to the other. Article 10 establishes a Joint Consultative Commission for effective implementation of the Agreement and that it shall meet once a year. Article 11 deals with amendment of the Agreement by mutual consent and Article 12 states that the Agreement will come into forces on the date of the signing by the two parties (September 6, 2011) and
shall remain in force until terminated by mutual consent. Termination of the Agreement is effected by giving notice to the other party providing the "reasons for seeking such termination" and after consultations in the Joint Consultative Commission.
While overall the Agreement is to be welcomed, however, the devils are in the details of some of its Articles, such as Articles 2, 8 and 12, which are noted below.
Water-sharing of some major common rivers (54 major rivers flow to Bangladesh from India) is a burning issue and "lifeblood" question of Bangladesh people. Sharing is to be based on the common basin management system.
In Article 2, India agreed only "to explore the possibilities of common basin management of common rivers" and therefore the Indian commitment is only to explore the possibilities of common basin management and not an agreement on sharing waters of common rivers on the basis of common basin management.
Again in Article 2, it states both parties will "provide necessary assistance to each other (italics is mine) to enhance navigabil-
ity and accessibility of river routes and ports." This may arguably include cooperation of Bangladesh to enhance the navigability of India ports, viz, Kolkata port, and India may at some point raise with Bangladesh the insufficiency of the flow of the feeder canal of Farakka Barrage to flush the silt of Hoogly River and Bangladesh may have to provide India more water to the feeder canal for the Kolkata port.
Article 8 is not clear as to what the parties actually meant by close cooperation on "issues of national interests" when Articles 1 to 8 cover almost all areas of cooperation. Given the geopolitical and economic realities, the "national interests" of India may not be deemed as "national interests" of Bangladesh and, accordingly, the Article is unwarranted and may lead to uncertainty and misinterpretation.
Article 12 deals with complicated process of termination of the Agreement. The Article envisages first that the Agreement can be terminated by mutual consent. Second, the Agreement can be terminated by giving a written notice to the other party providing the reasons for seeking such termination. Thereafter, the parties shall hold consultations to address the reasons cited by the party in the Joint Consultative Commission.
Furthermore, the Article provides that actions taken or agreement reached pursu-
ant to this Agreement shall not be affected by the expiry
It is not understood why termination of a bilateral Agreement has been made so difficult unless there exists lurking suspicion that the Agreement may not be found favourable to a party after certain period of time. Past experience suggests that the weaker party always seeks termination of the Agreement.
Furthermore, it is very unusual to prescribe for a sovereign party to provide reasons to the other party for termination and hold mandatorv consultations with the other party on termination of a bilateral Agreement. It is an inherent right of a party to terminate any bilateral Agreement by providing written notice in advance of certain period of time.
It is unusual to note that "agreements reached" but without actions taken on them "shall not be affected" by its expiry or termination. Any agreements reached can always be terminated after its expity. Only actions already taken pursuant to agreements are not terminated.
Despite the above deficits, the Agreement on the whole opens up possibilities in cooperation on bilateral, sub-regional and regional level in areas such as, water, energy; food security and environmental safety and is to be welcomed. If the provisions of the Agreement are implemented speedily with good faith, the outcome will be mutually beneficial.
The writer is a former Bangladesh Ambassador to the UN, Geneva.