Visiting Indonesian leader vows to boost trade with Bangladesh<\/p>\n
Agencies
\nDhaka<\/p>\n
Indonesian President Megawati Soekarnoputri vowed to boost
\neconomic ties with Bangladesh as her visit on Thursday coincided
\nwith an opposition strike in the politically volatile country.<\/p>\n
Megawati held a 15-minute meeting with Bangladeshi Prime
\nMinister Khaleda Zia at her office after a visit with Dhaka's
\nIndonesian community.<\/p>\n
At a banquet Wednesday night hosted by Zia, Megawati called on
\nthe two countries to \"exert our strength to have broad contacts\"
\nat all levels from governments to businesses to people.<\/p>\n
\"I believe there (is) more room for us to explore if we want
\nto achieve more meaningful and substantive bilateral relations,\"
\nMegawati said.<\/p>\n
Zia called Megawati's trip a \"landmark event\" and stressed
\nBangladesh wanted to become a dialog partner in ASEAN, the
\nregional bloc that includes Southeast Asia's economic
\nheavyweights.<\/p>\n
She said her country's \"unique geographical location makes
\nBangladesh a natural bridge between South and Southeast Asia.\"<\/p>\n
\"Since both Bangladesh and Indonesia are developing countries
\nwith similar economic challenges, we need to intensify our
\nefforts through closer political and economic links both at
\nbilateral and regional levels,\" Zia said.<\/p>\n
Indonesia and Bangladesh also share religious ties, being the
\nworld's largest and third largest Muslim-majority countries
\nrespectively, with both ruled by women.<\/p>\n
Megawati's visit to cash-strapped Bangladesh comes as Zia's
\ngovernment pursues a \"Look East\" policy aimed at forging economic
\nties with Southeast Asia.<\/p>\n
The trade balance between Bangladesh and Indonesia is heavily
\nin Jakarta's favor. In the 2001-2002 fiscal year, Bangladesh's
\nexports to Indonesia stood at US$5.6 million, largely jute and
\ngarments, while imports were worth $173.6 million and included
\nmineral products, plastics and machinery.<\/p>\n
Thousands of people, particularly women who work in the
\ngarment factories, lined the streets earlier Thursday as
\nMegawati's motorcade passed through the Tejgaon industrial area.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, hundreds of students took to the streets of the
\nBangladesh capital and scuffled with police on Thursday hours
\nahead of a visit by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell,
\nwitnesses said.<\/p>\n
The students, members of the opposition Awami League, had
\ncalled a half-day strike over the killing of a colleague which
\nthey say was politically motivated.<\/p>\n
The strike closed schools and some offices, drove most buses
\noff the highways, shut many shops and disrupted deliveries from
\nthe main port of Chittagong.<\/p>\n
Powell is to make a brief visit on Thursday afternoon en route
\nfrom an Asian security meeting in Phnom Penh to the Middle East.<\/p>\n
The Bangladesh Chhatra League, student wing of the Awami
\nLeague, said the dawn-to-noon strike had nothing to do with
\nPowell's visit.<\/p>\n
But Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, secretary-general of ruling
\nBangladesh Nationalist Party, said the strike was \"an attempt to
\ncreate lawlessness while Bangladesh is hosting distinguished
\nforeign guests\".<\/p>\n
Megawati arrived on Wednesday for a three-day visit.<\/p>\n
Radical Islamic activists and left-wing students staged
\nprotests in Dhaka on Wednesday against Powell whom they accused
\nof killing thousands of Muslims in Afghanistan and the Middle
\nEast.<\/p>\n
Powell called on Thursday on Bangladesh's long feuding leaders
\nto make peace for the sake of the cash-strapped country in a
\nbrief visit coinciding with an opposition strike.<\/p>\n
\"Bangladesh stands out for its strides made in strengthening
\ndemocracy over the years,\" Powell told reporters here.<\/p>\n
But he added: \"Whatever differences there may be among the
\npolitical parties and coalition and on the policy matters, the
\npeople of Bangladesh need their leaders to pull together to go
\nforward.\"<\/p>\n
Zia and her predecessor Sheikh Hasina Wajed have a bitter,
\npersonal rivalry and each while in opposition has tried to
\nscuttle the other's agenda, with general strikes and parliament
\nwalkouts frequent tactics.<\/p>\n
The two together have ruled Bangladesh since 1991.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/visiting-indonesian-leader-vows-to-boost-trade-with-bangladesh-1447899208", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }