Dhaka, Mar 4 (UNB)-Foreign Minister Dipu Moni Thursday said the people have begun to dream a big dream after the establishment of a harmonious and friendly relationship with India through the landmark Delhi visit of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

‘We’ve been able to make the people see dreams. This is our success..,” she told a roundtable on Bangladesh-India economic cooperation at CIRDAP auditorium in the city, drawing a sharp rebuttal from an opponent, though.

Harshly criticizing the visit of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, opposition BNP leader and former foreign secretary Reaz Rahman said at the function that the purpose of transhipment provided to India
through an accord is not to promote business.

“Rather the main purpose is to use Bangladesh as a corridor to enhance the movement of Indian personnel from its western side into the east,” he said.

Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), a think-tank, organized the roundtable titled ‘Advancing Bangladesh-India Economic Cooperation: Modalities and Challenges’ with noted economist Dr. Rehman Sobhan in the chair.

CPD Executive Director Prof Mustafizur Rahman and former UN-ESCAP Transport Director Dr. M Rahmatullah presented two separate keynotes on the topic.

Prime Minister’s Adviser Mashiur Rahman, Indian High Commissioner in Dhaka Rajit Mitra, Metropolitan Chamber President Anisuddowlah and FBCCI Director Manjur Ahmed also spoke at the function.

Dipu Moni said that the agreements with neighboring India should be seen with a positive outlook as all the unresolved issues are tried to be resolved through the Prime Minister’s tour.

“This has yielded a win-win situation for both Bangladesh and India and also for all in the region. We have been able to come out of the narrow mentality towards a broad attitude,” she told her audience.

Responding to Reaz Rahman’s criticism that there is ambiguity in the joint communiqe about access of Nepal and Bhutan to Bangladesh’s seaports, the foreign minister said this communiqe is much better compared to the one published after the visit of the then prime minister (Khaleda Zia) in ‘92 and 2006.

“I feel ashamed if I want to compare between the two joint communiqes,” she said, adding that there was no substance in the communiqes in 92 and 2006.

She alleged that BNP is trying to create confusion about the transhipment issue out of political compulsions.

Reaz Rahman said the government has totally failed to protect the interests of the country as a whole in signing deals with India.

He said trade imbalance cannot be reduced only by the official trade as unofficial trade is bigger than the official volume.

“Even the tariff concession offered by India will not reduce the trade gap,” he said, adding that transhipment was a bargaining chip to negotiate with India but Bangladesh lost it.

He noted that this will affect the position of an LDC in the bargaining at trade negotiations.

The former foreign-office bureaucrat suggested conducting a study on the transhipment to determine losses and benefits coming out of the cross-border transportation.

Reaz Rahman also contended that connectivity with India would not play any role in alleviating poverty.

BGMEA leader Fazlul Azim rued that India is talking about connectivity but businessmen are being harassed when they seek Indian visa.

MCCI President Anisuddowlah said private sector should be involved in implementation of the decisions taken by the political leaderships of India and Bangladesh.

He pointed out mindset of the bureaucracy in both Bangladesh and India as the main obstacle to the implementation.