Khaleda-Megawati talks

Khaleda-Megawati talks

At their talks in Jakarta, Indonesian President Megawati
Soekarnoputri and Bangladesh Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia
struck a wider Asian note. They underscored the need for a larger
forum girdling SAARC and ASEAN in order to try and meet the
stupendous challenges of globalization.

At a bilateral level, the signing of four treaties and two
memorandums of understanding during the current visit of
Bangladesh PM Khaleda Zia to Jakarta has been amply illustrative
of how productive their talks proved. Though there is a huge
trade gap between the two countries, with the balance tilted
heavily towards Indonesia, assurances by Megawati that she would
encourage her country's businessmen to import more products from
Bangladesh have gone down very well in Dhaka. Not only that, in
concrete terms, she has agreed to accord duty-free access to 23
Bangladeshi products in the Indonesian market.

There is something that devolves on us following the extension
of duty-free access by another country. The gaining of liberal
trade terms from Thailand and Indonesia means that we should
raise our productivity levels and diversify our exports, let
alone firm up the fiscal assistance package. The quality of our
products and the timeliness of our deliveries should leave
nothing to be desired.

Getting back to the official talks, the emphasis on sharing of
information and intelligence among Asian countries pertaining to
combating the problem of terrorism couldn't have come a day
earlier.

Of immense potential importance is also the fact that in
matters of exploration and extraction of natural resources,
patronex and Bapex, the public companies of the two countries,
would enter into effective cooperation and share their
experiences. -- The Daily Star, Dhaka