India is not among the top 10 development partners of Bangladesh

SALEEM SAMAD

When India promptly felicitated Bangladesh for holding a "free and fair" 12th National Elections, the government leaders in Bangladesh were visibly excited.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina on her "victory for a historic fourth consecutive term in the Parliamentary elections" and also said, "We are committed to further strengthen our enduring and people-centric partnership with Bangladesh."

On the eve of the 75th Republic Day of India, a Bangladesh business daily Share Biz in Bangla publishes a damning first-page lead story "India is not among the top 10 development partners of Bangladesh".

The story was published in the byline of a reporter Ismail Ali writes, that since the liberation war of Bangladesh, India is one of the friendly countries in South Asia.

Having the longest international border, the country always stood by its neighbour at various times. Bangladesh's diplomatic and economic relations with India are also very deep.

However, there is a lopsided trade imbalance between the two countries. India is Bangladesh's second-largest source of imports.

It is also worth noting that every year Bangladesh's trade gap with India is widening rather than narrowing. In the Financial Year (FY) 2021-22, for example, Bangladesh imported commodities worth US$14.58 billion from India, while its exports to that country were merely US$1.8 billion.

Every day, thousands of Bangladesh nationals travel to India for medical treatment, been lagging business and pleasure. The two countries have shared the same history, culture and tradition for centuries during the Moghuls and British colonial era.

An estimated US $5 billion annually is remitted to India by documented and undocumented Indian expats working in Bangladesh. Similarly, thousands of economic migrants work in India as menial labourers.

Although India boasts of Bangladesh being a development partner and heightened bilateral relations, which both countries reiterate on all occasions.

The largest country in South Asia is not on the list of top 10 development partners of Bangladesh. India has been lagging in foreign economic assistance to Bangladesh since its independence.

India has provided nominal economic assistance to Bangladesh for 52 years from financial year (FY) 1971-72 to FY 2022-23. This information has emerged in the latest report of the Economic Relations Department (ERD), a government department which negotiates foreign economic assistance.

According to ERD's report, Bangladesh's foreign debt has reached US $92.367 billion in the 52 years since independence. At this time, Bangladesh received US $30.105 billion in various grants.

The total development assistance received is US $122.472 billion. Of this, $7.031 billion came from food aid, $10.908 billion from product aid and $104.533 billion from project aid.

The World Bank has provided the most assistance to Bangladesh among any single international multilateral donor agency, amounting to $28.446 billion. It is 23.23 per cent of the total development cooperation.

The international multilateral donor agency has donated $1.623 billion under this economic assistance. The remaining $26.823 billion was loaned by the World Bank.

Another, multi-lateral donor agency Asian Development Bank (ADB), which is in the second position on this list provided Bangladesh with $22.424 billion in development cooperation.

It is 18.31 per cent of development cooperation and provided only $382 million to Bangladesh. The remaining $22.42 billion was disbursed as loans.

The two international multi-lateral agencies have never provided food aid to Bangladesh. However, the two agencies have given some loans under product support.

Japan is third in assisting Bangladesh. In the last 52 years, the country has given $20.452 billion or 16.70 percent of foreign aid. Of the total aid, Japan has given $3.609 billion in grants and $16.843 billion in loans.

China is in the fourth position. The country has given $8.115 billion or 6.63 percent of aid to Bangladesh. Of the financial assistance, China has donated only $104 million.

Russia ranks fifth in the list of development partners.

The country has given $6.874 billion to Bangladesh in the last 52 years, which is 5.61 per cent of the total aid. Of the country's aid, only $35 million was in grants.

The United Nations and its bodies are in the sixth position among the list of development partners. The UN has given the entire amount of $4.795 billion or 3.92 percent was disbursed as a grant to Bangladesh.

The United States ranks seventh and has provided $3.856 billion or 3.15 percent of foreign aid.

The United Kingdom was followed by the USA and provided economic assistance worth $2.727 billion or 2.23 per cent.

Germany, ranked ninth and tenth respectively in development cooperation.

The country gave Bangladesh $2.251 billion or 1.84 percent and Canada gave $2.214 billion or 1.81 percent.

Apart from this, India has given 2.143 billion dollars or 1.75 percent of development assistance to Bangladesh. And the European Union (EU) has contributed 2.105 billion dollars or 1.72 per cent.

Contributions from other organisations and countries amount to less than two billion dollars. Among them, the Asian Infrastructure Bank (AIIB), UNICEF, Islamic Development Bank (IDB), Netherlands, France, Denmark and Saudi Arabia have development cooperation amounting to more than one billion dollars. The rest have less support than that.

According to ERD data, different countries have provided food aid to Bangladesh at different times. Basically, in the post-independence years, food aid was higher. This support has decreased in recent times.

Over 89 percent of food aid in 52 years was received in grants, amounting to $6.268 billion. The remaining $763 million, or about 11 per cent, was loan assistance.

Food aid has been given to Bangladesh the most by the United Nations and its various organizations, amounting to 2.143 billion dollars. The United States is next in food aid. The country has provided food aid to Bangladesh at various times under USAID, amounting to $1.804 billion.

About 52 percent or $5.651 billion of product assistance came from grants and 48 per cent or $5.257 billion was loans. Japan and the World Bank provided the most product assistance. And 18.186 billion dollars or 17.40 per cent of the project assistance came as grants. The remaining 86.347 billion dollars or 82.60 percent was loan assistance. World Bank, ADB and Japan are the top three lenders.

Finally, on 20 January, Indian External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar in a microblogging Twitter (X) wrote: So glad to meet with my new Bangladesh counterpart Dr. Mohammed Hasan Mahmud in Kampala [Uganda at 19th Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Summit] and further stated that "India-Bangladesh relations are growing from strength to strength."

First published in North East News, Guwahati, India, 28 January 2023

Saleem Samad is an award-winning independent journalist based in Bangladesh. A media rights defender with the Reporters Without Borders (@RSF_inter). Recipient of Ashoka Fellowship and Hellman-Hammett Award. He could be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com; Twitter (X): @saleemsamad

How India and Bangladesh are set to transform regional connectivity, bolster Act East policy

SALEEM SAMAD

India and Bangladesh are thinking big on multimodal connectivity- a move that not only be important for the two countries but would be key to sub-regional economic integration.

In fact, multimodal connectivity is no more a dream, as the two nations have stepped into heightened economic cooperation, which is gradually turning a vision into reality.

Once it takes-off, it will hugely benefit India’s landlocked northeast as it would open the pathway of rapid development.

Better connectivity will increase the value, resilience and dependability of the supply chains in the region.

To make the cooperation more energetic, the two countries have zeroed in on roads, water and railway connectivity. Several initiatives have been taken in the last few years, which are near completion.

Both Dhaka and Delhi underscore the enhancement of connectivity through air, water, rail, road will be mutually beneficial.

Last week, the High Commissioner of India to Bangladesh Pranay Verma at a seminar in Dhaka said that multimodal connectivity is the future of a new level of cooperation between the two countries.

The scope and quality of connectivity is a common aspiration, which reflects India’s growing partnership with Bangladesh, he remarked.

The envoy pointed out that the future links between the two countries would be shaped by multimodal connectivity, including through road and rail, inland waterways, coastal shipping, as well as energy and digital connectivity.

The High Commissioner said in the last five years, bilateral trade has more than doubled, and Bangladesh’s exports to India have now touched nearly USD 2 billion, with India emerging as the largest export market for Bangladesh in Asia.

Delhi has granted Duty-Free Quota Free access to all Bangladeshi goods except a few for a decade. Despite the trade balance being in India’s favour, many imported items help in adding value to Bangladeshi exports.

Already, the opening of the Mongla and Chattogram ports for the transhipment of goods to and from Indian north-eastern states to the rest of India was an important step.

Earlier the two countries had signed an agreement on coastal shipping in 2015 and an agreement in October 2018 on the use of Chattogram and Mongla Ports for trans-shipment of goods to and from India.

Bangladesh’s trade with its neighbours India, Nepal, and Bhutan has been on a positive trend over the last decade, writes Robart Shuvro Guda, Lead Economist of research think-tank Unnayan Shamannay.

The transportation connectivity will also connect Bhutan and Nepal with Bangladesh, according to a deal of BBIN MVA (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal Motor Vehicle Agreement) which will optimise trade and commerce with the two landlocked countries.

Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, and Nepal agreed on the free movement of cargo and passenger vehicles in the sub-region. Unfortunately, Bhutan did not ratify the BBIN MVA citing environmental concerns, writes Robart Shuvro Guda.

Bhutan has raised the potential contribution to carbon footprint for which the picturesque country is known as the most environmental-friendly place in the world.

The threat to the environment from the vehicular movement of cargo would also cause damage to the road infrastructure, and likely to increase air pollution from the smoke from vehicles and non-recyclable waste generated from vehicular movements were the primary reasons for the pull-out of the agreement.

Once the connectivity is in full swing, the distance between Kolkata to Agartala via Dhaka in Bangladesh will be reduced by 1100 km compared to the typical route via Chicken’s Neck. Currently, only bus passengers are allowed to operate on the transit route.

With the opening of Hasina’s dream project, the Padma Bridge, the transports from Agartala and beyond will benefit from seamless connectivity. Similarly, the railroads over Padma Bridge and under construction Jamuna railway bridge will also make transportation hassle-free.

These two mix-modal routes are now available for connecting the rest of India with the northeast via Bangladesh. The Chattogram to Agartala land route will be connected via the Ramgarh-Subroom border crossing which will reduce the distance by 135 km.

The High Commissioner noted that as Bangladesh moves forward to make an important economic graduation to become a developing country in 2026, the negotiations for a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between India and Bangladesh would create a new institutional framework for leveraging the economic opportunities emanating from the transforming economies of both the countries.

Given the opportunity provided by the transition of Bangladesh into a developing country in 2026, India has decided to soon start negotiating on CEPA through which both countries can harness each other’s growing potential, said the Indian envoy.

It is well understood that the BIN MVA initiative will help to remove the hassle of transhipment at the India and Bangladesh border crossing points and trade time will be reduced significantly.

The envoy emphasised the long-term significance of connectivity in facilitating closer economic, cultural, and people-to-people ties between the two countries.

Verma remarked that Bangladesh sits on the cusp of India’s Act East Policy and Neighbourhood First policy for both of which connectivity is the core element.

First published in India Narrative, Delhi, India on 8 May 2023

(Saleem Samad is an award-winning independent journalist based in Bangladesh. Views expressed are personal. Twitter: @saleemsamad)

Leaked letter: Mamata govt backed Bangladesh border deal it’s now opposing

SMITA SHARMA

No one knows why Mamta Banerjee is backing out on an agreement that would strengthen the hands of India’s allies.

Last week, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid stood up in the upper house of Parliament to place the Constitution (119th) Amendment Bill 2013 for ratification-sparking off the kind of ruckus rarely seen in Parliament over a foreign policy issue.

Assom Gana Parishad member Birendra Prasad Baishya trooped into the well of the house with placards in hand. He had the support of the Trinamool Congress with, with Derek O Brien asking the chair to allow Baishya to speak. The Minister was unable to introduce the Bill and Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien had to adjourn the house for ten minutes. When Rajya Sabha reassembled, the Chair said the matter was to be taken up at a later time. But more drama ensued with TMC members joining the lone AGP warrior Baishya in the well. BJP too came out in support of the protesters. The uproar ended only once Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Rajiv Shukla announced-“the Bill has been deferred .”

The Bill in concern, if ratified by two thirds majority in both houses of Parliament, would bring into effect the 1974 India-Bangladesh land boundary agreement and the draft protocol agreed upon by the two countries. With a common boundary of 4097.6 kms, the Bill when implemented would settle disputes over demarcation at various places along the Indo-Bangla border.

What is interesting is that exactly two years ago – on 20th of August 2011 -then Chief Secretary of West Bengal, Samar Ghosh sent a written consent to then Foreign secretary Ranjan Mathai on the issue. The letter signed by Samar Ghosh said-“I hereby convey the State Government’s approval of the draft Protocol.”

When asked about the same, Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha member Sukhendu Shekhar Roy told Network18, “West Bengal government and Mamata Banerjee should have been consulted before placing the bill in House. The Centre has, however, held official talks neither with our chief minister or our officials.”

He added, “I am not aware of any letter of consent given by the state government. Even if there is one, discussions must have been held at some level other than the state government or our CM.”

Network18 has access to the letter, whose content Mr Roy forcefully denies. The letter No.176-CS/2011 was sent in official capacity from the office of the Chief Secretary of West Bengal on 20th of August 2011. Ms Banerjee had won a landslide victory in the month of May the same year- and in the next three months would have surely known about what her chief secretary was up to. Notably Samar Ghosh was given an extension of six months on completion of his tenure by Mamata government which was then a part of the UPA.

Speaking to Bangladesh News, Samar Ghosh confirmed-”I did consult Mamata Banerjee and she said we agree, so I conveyed the same to Ranjan Mathai.”

Trinamool Congress insists that ‘national interest’ cannot overrule ‘regional interest’ and by handing over 111 enclaves to Dhaka in exchange of 51 enclaves, New Delhi stands to lose strategic land.

Congress’s Pradeep Bhattacharya though argues “people in these enclaves are nobody’s citizens, and this process cannot linger. It is a humanitarian issue that must not be politicized. The Bengal government had earlier supported the bill, but why has Mamata-ji now done a U-turn is beyond our understanding.”

It is a question being asked in Delhi’s bureaucratic circles. Not to forget an already at unease with the bill BJP which looks a divided house on the issue. While senior leader and ex Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha has opposed the ratification of the bill on grounds of no consultation with the opposition and lack of consensus building. Another Former Foreign Minister of the BJP Jaswant Singh says, “There is no opposition to it.Let the bill first be introduced.”

It’s worth noting that during her Delhi visit in July this year, Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Dipu Moni had met Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley to seek his support. A day after, reports suggested, Bangladeshi High Commissioner Tariq Azim had traveled to Ahmedabad to meet the BJP’s Chief Election Campaigner Narendra Modi on the same issue. Later on 8th of August Prime Minister Manmohan Singh accompanied by EAM Khurshid and NSA Shiv Shankar Menon briefed senior BJP Leaders LK Advani, Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley to address their concerns.

Despite opposition from the Bengal and Assam state units of the BJP, party headquarter seems to be now coming around on the bill. But it is the feisty Banerjee, who earlier managed to derail the Prime Minister’s attempt at Teesta water sharing agreement with Dhaka, is the new surprise hurdle on the way of the Land Boundary Agreement.

And with January 2014 elections in Bangladesh closing in, a pro-India Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina can only hope that the failure of the agreement will not provide ammunition to her opponent Begum Khaleda Zia. Meanwhile, New Delhi is still waiting to hear why Mamata Banerjee chose to do a U- turn on a matter of international significance, even as it hopes to try and table this bill sometime again this week in the ongoing Monsoon session.

First published in firstpost.com August 24, 2013

Smita Sharma is the Associate Editor Foreign Affairs/Anchor for IBN7 News

Twitter id: @smita_sharma

On a slow boat through Bangladesh

Umgrot River at Indo-Bangladesh border — Ritu Raj Konwar

SANTANU SANYAL

The potential of routing trade from Kolkata to the North-East through Bangladesh can be exploited.

In a bid to cash in on the shortage of coal faced by industrial consumers for quite some time, a Kolkata-based trader sometime ago wondered about transporting coal from Meghalaya by the river route (a large part of which is through Bangladesh) to Kolkata to meet the requirements of brick kilns in the State.

He did try, but the experience left him thoroughly disappointed. It took three months to transport 5,000 tonnes of coal from Meghalaya to Kolkata — first by truck from the mines to Karimganj river port in Assam and then by barge from Karimganj to Kolkata via Ashuganj (Bangladesh) where transhipment from small river craft into large barges had to take place. The transhipment too took an unusually long time. And the cost? The less said the better. It was prohibitive, to say the least.

TRADE POTENTIAL

Interestingly, a study funded by the Switzerland-based International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) advocates use of the Karimganj-Ashuganj stretch of the Kushiara river to promote both bilateral and transit trade by the river route between India and Bangladesh. Quoting an estimate by India’s Inland Waterways Authority of India, the study says about 1.5 million tonnes of cargo can be moved along the stretch.

One reason for this advocacy may be the various problems facing both the countries on promotion of bilateral trade by river route. The Bangladeshi barge operators active in the trade are particularly keen that the Karimganj-Ashuganj section develops because the bilateral trade traffic throughput by river route is showing a declining trend. In 2011-12, the throughput was 1.48 million tonnes and in the first seven months of the current fiscal, only 3,39,000 tonnes.

At this rate, even the one million tonne-level will not be achieved this fiscal, it is feared. An estimated 300 vessels carrying the Bangladeshi flag participate in the bilateral trade and a large number of them now are idle for want of traffic. The owners of the vessels, therefore, would like to participate in transit trade.

The trade by river route between India and Bangladesh is governed by the India-Bangladesh Protocol on Trade and Transit first signed in 1972, almost immediately after the emergence of Bangladesh as a separate nation, and was renewed thereafter from time to time. It will be wrong to presume that the renewal has always been a smooth and easy process. Between 2003 and 2006, for example, the renewal took place virtually on a month-to-month basis.

The Protocol has two components — one for bilateral trade and the other for the transit trade, i.e. for transportation of goods between Kolkata and Assam and other parts of the North-East through Bangladesh river system. For various reasons, the transit trade has not picked up.

The bilateral trade traffic by river route has some interesting features. First, it is one-way traffic, i.e., from India to Bangladesh; second, it is virtually a one-commodity trade, namely, fly ash, and finally, the trade is handled almost exclusively by Bangladeshi barge operators. There is virtually no presence of Indian barge operators, for whatever reasons.

The Bangladeshi barge operators now realise the pitfalls of depending on only one commodity. They, therefore, would like to diversify their portfolio by handling other types of cargo, preferably through participation also in transit trade. The importance of transporting cargo along the Karimganj-Ashuganj stretch becomes critical in this context.

NAVIGABILITY ISSUES

At a workshop at Guwahati organised by the IUCN recently, traders from both sides expressed the view that while fly ash may continue to be an important bilateral trade item for the stretch, other items such as coal, iron ore, iron ore pellets, foodgrains and raw materials for and finished products of the paper units of Assam-based Hindustan Paper Corporation held out promise for the Karimganj-Ashuganj sector for the promotion of both bilateral and transit trade, more so because the sector was also part of the Protocol route.

There are several reasons why the Karimganj-Ashuganj sector may not be the preferred option to boost either bilateral or transit trade. First, the poor navigability of the Kushiara river.

There are nearly 20 shoals in the river totalling 25 km in length which must be dredged first to make the river navigable for movement of large-capacity barges. Right now, only country boats with capacity to load 50 to 100 tonnes can ply, and that too for three months in a year.

Interestingly, there is no proper study on the extent of dredging needed for the stretch, nor on how much money is needed to make the stretch navigable.

Some experts also feel that dredging can improve the river draft between 1.5 and 1.8 metres. For more improvement, so critical for movement of large-capacity vessels, dredging alone will not be enough; higher headwater discharge will be needed.

Next, the IUCN study suggests extension of the present Protocol route from Karimganj to Silchar in the Barak valley in Assam. However, the experts are not sure if such an extension will yield the desired result.

POLITICAL HURDLES

There is a proposal to develop Ashuganj as a major transhipment port to facilitate cargo movement to Tripura and the Indian Government is supposed to create the facility (though not much progress has been made in this direction). Which means, Kolkata-Ashuganj-Agartala river-cum-road route, when it materialises, will pose a threat to the proposed river route.

Inquiries reveal that other initiatives are under way to boot connectivity between India and the North-East through Bangladesh. For example, there are talks of recommissioning the Kulaura-Mahisasan-Karimganj rail link (39 km), construction of a 10-km long new rail link between Akhaura (Bangladesh) and Agartala (Tripura) and reconstruction of the old Silchar (Assam)-Sylhet (Bangladesh) road link (170 km).

The IUCN study draws attention to several other issues, such as the absence of night navigation, simplification of Customs rules, renewal of the Protocol every five years, introduction of multimodal operation and encouraging private sector participation. For obvious reasons, the study could not touch upon the biggest stumbling block, which is political.

India’s bid to promote trade by river route through Ashuganj, particularly to send cargo to Tripura on a regular basis, has not been a success. Bangladesh insists on the signing of the Teesta river treaty first. There is a stalemate now over the signing of the treaty, thanks to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

First published in The Hindu, January 25, 2013