Bangladesh, India, Myanmar to discuss energy cooperation
Monday, 20 December 2004, 20:30 IST
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DHAKA: Ministers of Bangladesh, India and Myanmar will meet in Yangon next month to discuss regional energy cooperation, including the possibility of implementing a trans-national gas pipeline. Bangladesh's Minister for Energy A.K.M. Mosharraf Hossain has sent a letter to his Indian counterpart regarding the gas pipeline and other issues to be discussed during the Jan 9-11 SAARC summit here, the Daily Star reported Sunday. The energy ministers of the three countries will meet in Myanmar Jan 12-13. Bangladesh hopes to reach an understanding with India on energy issues during the Myanmar meeting, the newspaper said, adding the prime ministers of India and Bangladesh may discuss energy issues in a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). Bangladesh's cabinet committee had earlier shelved a trans-national gas pipeline project proposed by a private company on the grounds that such a scheme required political tie-ins from the governments involved. Following that decision, Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia formed a secretary-level committee to examine various aspects of a trans-national pipeline that would carry gas from Myanmar to India's Tripura state, entering Bangladesh in the east and exiting in the west to West Bengal. Energy ministry sources said the committee would submit a set of recommendations based on its findings, which the ministers of finance, energy and foreign affairs will then discuss. The ministers will also discuss the matter with the prime minister. The government intends to finalise its position on the issue before the SAARC summit. Earlier, Finance Minister M. Saifur Rahman said Bangladesh would not pursue the pipeline proposal as an independent issue with India. Rather it would try to settle this issue in concert with a host of other matters, such as Bangladesh-Nepal transit through India and the removal of tariff barriers for Bangladeshi exporters to India. The concept of the trans-national pipeline is eight years old, but in recent times the Myanmar government has stepped up pressure to promote the idea, including inviting Bangladesh and India to discuss energy issues in Yangon in early January.
Source: IANS
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