Bangladesh seeks Megawati's help for ARF membership
Bangladesh seeks Megawati's help for ARF membership
Nadeem Qadir, Agence France-Presse, Dhaka
Bangladesh on Thursday sought visiting Indonesian President Megawati Soekarnoputri's backing to join the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) as part of a "Look East" policy to boost its economy.
Prime Minister Khaleda Zia raised membership in ARF, Asia's top security forum, during talks with Megawati as Indonesia "is an important member of ASEAN," said Bangladeshi Foreign Secretary Shamser Mobin Chowdhury.
"Bangladesh would like to engage more directly with ASEAN countries and a moratorium on ARF membership has been lifted ... Bangladesh is among the top two or three countries which are likely to get the membership," Chowdhury told reporters.
Pakistan was also under consideration to join ARF at the forum's meeting this week in Cambodia, but the move was reportedly blocked by rival India.
Bangladesh and Indonesia initialed four agreements to boost bilateral trade, including one on avoidance of double taxation, Chowdhury said. Megawati also met members of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
Megawati's visit to cash-strapped Bangladesh comes as Zia's government pursues a "Look East" policy aimed at forging economic ties with Southeast Asia.
At a banquet Wednesday night for Megawati, Zia said her country's "unique geographical location makes Bangladesh a natural bridge between South and Southeast Asia."
"Since both Bangladesh and Indonesia are developing countries with similar economic challenges, we need to intensify our efforts through closer political and economic links both at bilateral and regional levels," Zia said.
Megawati in turn called on the two countries to "exert our strength to have broad contacts" at all levels from governments to businesses to people.
"I believe there (is) more room for us to explore if we want to achieve more meaningful and substantive bilateral relations," Megawati said.
The trade balance between Bangladesh and Indonesia is heavily in Jakarta's favor. In the 2001-2002 fiscal year, Bangladesh's exports to Indonesia stood at US$5.6 million, largely jute and garments, while imports were worth $173.6 million and included mineral products, plastics and machinery.
Thousands of people, particularly women who work in the garment factories, lined the streets earlier Thursday as Megawati's motorcade passed through the Tejgaon industrial area.
Megawati also visited the residence of Jakarta's envoy to Dhaka, Maddolangeng Mansjur, to meet Indonesians living here.
Megawati was scheduled to hold separate talks with main opposition leader Sheikh Hasina Wajed but the meeting failed to take place, said officials, who did not have an immediate reason.
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, who made a lightning visit to Bangladesh on Thursday, refused to see Sheikh Hasina because she would not call off a half-day strike meant to protest the killing of one of her party activists.
The government had also tried unsuccessfully to persuade the opposition to call off the strike, worried about the impression it would give.
Strikes are a frequent political tactic in Bangladesh, where parliament is also frequently disrupted due to the bitter rivalry between Zia and Sheikh Hasina.
Megawati leaves Bangladesh on Friday for Mongolia at the end of a three-day visit to Dhaka as part of an Asian tour that will also take her to Japan and Vietnam.
The last top-level visit between the two countries was in 1978 when president Ziaur Rahman, Zia's slain husband, visited Jakarta.
Megawati, who also traveled to Dhaka in 2001 when she was Indonesia's vice president, laid a wreath at Rahman's grave.