B'desh, Pak plan to boost trade volume

DHAKA: Bangladesh and Pakistan on Thursday agreed to explore all potentials to enhance the bilateral trade volume to worth USD 1 billion in near future narrowing the existing gap.

"The talks decided to consider adopting measures such as Early Harvest Programme to reach the target of USD 1 billion per annum," said a joint declaration at the end of two-day talks between Bangladesh foreign secretary Mohammad Touhid Hossain and his Pakistani counterpart Riaz Mohammad Khan.

Talking to reporters at a joint press briefing after the talks, Khan said they have also decided to stage the next meeting of the bilateral Joint Economic Commission (JEC) early next year in Islamabad to expedite the process for enhanced trade exchanges.

"The trade (between Bangladesh and Pakistan) is growing but not at the level we want," Hossain told reporters.

The two-way trade at present is heavily in favour of Pakistan and according to official statistics, Bangladesh's export to Pakistan was USD 57.49 million against the import of USD 150.16 million in 2005-06. The figures last year were USD 63 million and USD 138 million respectively.

Khan said his country was interested to import several Bangladeshi products including jute and launch joint ventures in fields like Textiles, ICT, light engineering and agriculture as Bangladesh earlier asked Pakistan to allow duty free access of 102 products.

Asked about the Indian allegation about the Pakistani connection in the recent blasts in Hyderabad, Khan said his country did not patronise terrorists anywhere and "in our own interest we are fighting terrorism".

"Pakistan has cooperation with many countries for fighting terrorism as it affects our regional stability and internal development," Khan said.

Officials familiar with the meeting earlier said the fourth foreign secretary-level annual consultation between the two countries also discussed some outstanding thorny issues, shelved for decades since Bangladesh's independence in 1971 from Pakistan after a nine-month long Liberation War.

The unresolved issues between Dhaka and Islamabad include distribution of assets of the erstwhile Pakistan worth USD 4.32 billion, repatriation of stranded Pakistanis in Bangladesh, and unconditional apology from Islamabad for the atrocities committed on Bangladeshi people by the Pakistani occupational forces in 1971.

"We have discussed the issues which were substantially addressed in 1970s. Yet we discussed the matters (in the talks) for their further review," Khan said.

Asked about the latest Islamabad stance on the return of ex-prime minister Nawaz Sharif, the Pakistani foreign secretary said "we are now entering the phase of election in Pakistan and it will be held as per constitutional provisions".

"President Parvez Musharraf wants all political parties should reach a conciliation so there can be a progress in the process for political stability," he said.

"In the past seven/eight years, through massive institutional and economic reforms, we are now in a good economic shape... this is a trajectory we need to keep through a smooth political process," Khan added.

Khan also called on the Chief Adviser of the Caretaker Government of Bangladesh Fakhruddin Ahmed and the Adviser on Foreign Affairs Iftikhar Ahmed Chaudhry.