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Last week, a four-day one-country trade fair of fifteen Bangladesh goods was inaugurated by the Bhutanese minister of industries and trade minister Lyonpa Yashi Zimba. The fair was jointly sponsored by the Bhutanese industries ministry and Bangladesh Export Promotion Bureau,
Bhutan is one of Bangladesh's closest neighbours. The land mass on the lower river basin that constitutes today's Bangladesh used to be called Bhati. Bhati means low land and Bhutan means high land. Bhutans frontier was extended to the Brahmaputra river near Rangpur before the British took away the Duar area of Bhutan in Anglo-Bhutanese war.
How many of us bother to care that Bhutan was the first country to recognise Bangladesh. Many considered it to be a diplomatic poker game by India. One may beg to differ. The Bhutanese action was prompted by the genuine and profound sympathy of the Bhutanese Royal Family and the people for the suffering people of the then East Pakistan. Much water has flowed across the Brahmaputra and the Karatoa. Bhutan played an important role in the formation of SAARC and today we are proud members of South Asian Community of nation.
On the 50th Anniversary of the Bandung Conference a new concept emerged. The Indonesian President Yudhayono termed it strategic partnership of Asia and Africa. This strategic partnership concept is applicable between not only the big countries but also among smaller countries.
Bhutan is only one third of Bangladesh in land area - eighteen thousand square miles. But it has a population of 7,50,00 0 - equal to that of Chittagong Hill tracts. Most of the country is mountainous and as such thinly populated. But it is rich in natural resources. It has reserve of bitumen, gypsum, iron ore and precious stones. The country has also immense hydro-power potential. We can jointly explore these resources and make joint venture industries,
In the financial year 2004-2005 the export of Bangladeshi goods to Bhutan amounted to 4.7 million dollars. Bhutan is possibly the only country in the SAARC region with which we have a trade surplus.
Our trade with Bhutan as with the rest of the world is carried in Dollar. On the other hand the trade between Bhutan and India is mostly carried out in national currencies. SAFTA would not be much effective if we fail to create a common currency like EURO for the region.
We have entered a new era of strategic partnership between the countries of the South. This should be extended to all fields including fighting terrorism. Terrorism in the long run could be fought only with the economic development of the people.
We do not like strategic hegemony of any particular power. As such we do not encourage any power outside the region to award strategic hegemony to any power of the region. This client relationship is not acceptable to us. We hope our big neighbours China and India which are improving their mutual relations do not fall into the trap.
We are opposed to the interference in the internal affair of either Bhutan and Nepal. In contrast to the chaos and conflict in Nepal Bhutan is smoothly moving to democracy. The King has declared he will abdicate and the elected national assembly will have the right to abolish monarchy- this is a courageous step.
As strategic partners we should intensify our all round co-operation.
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