Gowda Gets Warm Welcome In Dhaka

Indian Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda arrived to a warm reception in Bangladesh on Monday, less than a month after the two countries signed a historic water-sharing accord that ended a decades-old dispute. He was received at the Dhaka airport by Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and senior members of her cabinet.

Bangladeshi airforce jets escorted Deve Gowdas aircraft to Dhaka after it entered Bangladeshs air space. As he descended from the plane, a red carpet was rolled out and the artillery fired 19 gunshots in his honour. The Indian leader also inspected a military guard.

Deve Gowda, on his first visit to Dhaka, was accompanied by a 17-member entourage, which includes external affairs minister Inder Kumar Gujral, home minister Indrajit Gupta and foreign secretary Salman Haider.

 

Thousands of people lined both sides of a 17-km highway, waving hands and flags, waiting for the two prime ministers to drive in a ceremonial motorcade from the airport to the state guest house `Jamuna in the city centre.

Officials in Dhaka described the visit as a landmark that would help cement bilateral relations after Hasina and Deve Gowda signed a 30-year treaty in New Delhi last December on sharing water from the Ganges, which flows through India and Bangladesh before emptying into the Bay of Bengal.

The treaty ended a dispute that has soured relations between the two neighbours since 1974, when India built a barrage on the Ganges to hold back water near its border with Bangladesh.

It ensures that lower riparian Bangladesh gets at least 35,000 cusecs of Ganges water during the dry season to facilitate irrigation and navigation. Officials said the prime ministers would discuss the repatriation of Bangladeshi tribal refugees from India, trade and increasing cooperation among member-states of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc), which comprises the two nations, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Nepal and the Maldives.

The visit is a goodwill one but repatriation of the Chakma refugees, trade and Saarc matters will feature prominently in talks between the two premiers, an official told reporters. An official in Gowdas office in New Delhi earlier said: The Prime Minister is not going to Dhaka with a bag of demands or concessions. The focus of his visit would be to review the growing, friendly relations between the two nations.

India helped Bangladesh win a 1971 independence war against Pakistan, but ties between Dhaka and New Delhi later entered a cold era, often soured by distrust and fear. Relations started improving after Hasina, daughter of Bangladeshs slain independence leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, came to power following a general election last June. The water accord put a seal of trust on warming ties, officials say.

A widening trade gap in favour of India remains a major Bangladeshi concern. In 1995-96 (July-June), Bangladesh imported goods worth $1.1 billion but its exports were a paltry $70 million.