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India, Bangladesh end border dispute, sign trade deal
http://www.livemint.com/Politics/JbGxtRjzQSjUDCgY7OLGQJ/What-we-learnt-from-Narendra-Modis-Bangladesh-visit.htmlOne of the first engagements after bilateral talks on Saturday was the exchange of the instruments of ratification of the 1974 land boundary pact that was signed by then Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi and then Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. The pact that demarcates the border as well as envisages the exchange of enclaves and land in adverse possession was given the green signal by Indian Parliament only last month. “It is not just an exchange of land here and there, its a linking of hearts,” Modi said in a possible message to Pakistan and China, two countries with which India has territorial and boundary disputes.
The ratification of the pact was a long-standing demand of the people of Bangladesh and its non-delivery was seen as India not keeping its promises.
That out of the way, the two countries signed a slew of pacts to improve regional connectivity (a key demand of India), partnership in the power sector, and setting up a special economic zone in Bangladesh for investments and balancing trade that is tilted heavily in India’s favour.
To improve connectivity, the two sides signed a pact to allow Indian cargo ships to use Bangladesh’s Mongla and Chittagong ports. The ships will now ferry cargo from Bangladesh to the Indian ports instead of routing it via Singapore as they earlier did. The Chittagong port has been developed by China and India had been viewing Chinese activity in Bangladesh with suspicion.
The ratification of the pact was a long-standing demand of the people of Bangladesh and its non-delivery was seen as India not keeping its promises.
That out of the way, the two countries signed a slew of pacts to improve regional connectivity (a key demand of India), partnership in the power sector, and setting up a special economic zone in Bangladesh for investments and balancing trade that is tilted heavily in India’s favour.
To improve connectivity, the two sides signed a pact to allow Indian cargo ships to use Bangladesh’s Mongla and Chittagong ports. The ships will now ferry cargo from Bangladesh to the Indian ports instead of routing it via Singapore as they earlier did. The Chittagong port has been developed by China and India had been viewing Chinese activity in Bangladesh with suspicion.
OK, I will give Modi this: the man is damned good at the international charm offensives.
The background here: Bangladesh and India have been making border adjustment claims against each other since Bangladesh gained its independence from Pakistan in 1971. India has always agreed to a land swap in principle but hemmed and hawed whenever talks got down to specifics, until now, and it appears this may finally be put to bed. The trade pact seems to mostly be about Indian ships being able to unload in Bangladesh and Bangladeshi truckers being able to drive to Nepal and Bhutan, as well as some attempts to build infrastructure in India's northeast provinces and spur trade between them and Bangladesh (the northeast of India is an incredibly underdeveloped area between Bangladesh and Burma; states like Assam and Nagaland that are closer culturally (and geographically) to Rangun than to Delhi or even Kolkata (which is the most "Asian" of India's major cities).
As a side note to anyone interested in Indian politics, Modi was joined on the trip to Dakha by Mamata Banerjee, the Chief Minister (roughly like a Governor in the US) of the state of West Bengal. "Bengal" is a cultural region that was divided between India and East Pakistan (as Bangladesh was known before 1971), and there are still a lot of families divided by that partition (my wife's, for instance). Banerjee is pretty much the last major figure standing in the Congress party, but unlike the rest of the country, the main competition for her is from the left in the form of the Communist party (there's still an active Maoist insurgency in that part of India). Anyways, Congress and BJP (Modi's party) do not like each other at all, so there was some surprise that Modi allowed Banerjee to accompany him. The speculation is that West Bengal had to give up some land in the land swap, and this trip was the pound of flesh that Banerjee extracted for that.
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Hopefully this new-found cooperation between the two countries will benefit both them, particularly Bangladesh where the poverty is a tragedy.
Thanks for the update. 
