Ibne Siraj :
Prime Minister of Bangladesh and the Russian President Vladimir Putin have very recently expressed their high hope that the socio-economic relations between Bangladesh and Russia would get further strengthened in the days to come to the mutual benefit of both the countries. While having talks during a gala dinner hosted by Italian President Giorgio Nepolitano at Sala Delle Cariatidi during the historic ASEM meeting in Milan, they stressed more on closer bilateral relations through further increasing trade and investment along with cooperation in all key areas. The ASEM meet was in fact a rare occasion, where Hasina and Putin had got yet another chance to meet each other to exchange their minds as to what actually they want to see in the friendly relations between Bangladesh and Russia. It should be mentioned here that Russia could be a very suitable destination for Bangladeshi exports including the Readymade Garments Products (RMGs). On the other hand, Russia may come up with heavy investment in key sectors in Bangladesh to enjoy various facilities being provided by Dhaka for the foreign entrepreneurs.
Over the years, Bangladesh at the summit level meetings and also during ministerial as well as official level talks sought more technological support from Russia for the development, especially in the area of exploration, extraction and distribution of oil and gas. Besides its active participation in a number of key economic sectors, Russia is now developing the Rooppur Nuclear Plant and has agreed into a billion-dollar arms purchase by Bangladesh. During the War of Liberation, former Soviet Union was beside the people of Bangladesh and worked closely with the post-liberation government to rebuild the war-ravaged nation. After the settlement of maritime conflicts with Myanmar and India, Bangladesh is planning to intensify its gas and oil exploration activities in the large area of the Bay of Bengal. In this perspective, Bangladesh hopes that Russia would extend its cooperation to this sector as the Prime Minister’s visit to Moscow paved the way for deeper collaboration in the areas of energy, culture, counter-terrorism, agriculture, science and education. From time to time, Russia also reciprocated the same to work closely to further the friendly ties in future.
Bangladesh’s recent announcement of a deal with Russia to construct its first nuclear reactor marks a broadening of the nuclear gold rush in South Asia. The latest deal is part of a big expansion of nuclear generation throughout the region. India plans to build some 25,000 MW of nuclear generating capacity using Russian, French and perhaps US and Japanese technology; Pakistan is building a second nuclear plant with Chinese assistance; and Sri Lanka is reportedly in talks with China to build nuclear capacity. Bangladesh, like all of its South Asian neighbours, suffers from serious power shortages. With average demand against the actual generation of electricity, outages are a daily occurrence in Bangladesh. Both the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank have warned Bangladesh that current growth rates will be unsustainable if this issue is not addressed. These issues meant that resolving the country’s power problems was a major promise of the administration. The construction of coal and natural gas-fired plants, and a plan to import power from hydro plants in India, are also on the government’s agenda.
Bangladesh’s deal with Russia involves the construction of a nuclear plant at Pabna with two reactors to generate a total 2,000 MW, scheduled for completion in 2018. Russia will take care of the nuclear fuel’s supply and disposal, train the Bangladeshis and work with them in exploring deposits of uranium and thorium. The agreement follows an initial Memorandum of Understanding signed in May 2009 and a framework agreement in May 2010. Relations between Bangladesh and Russia have not always been terribly close due to the change of governments. The Soviet Union, then of course a de facto ally of India, did support Bangladesh in its War of Liberation. And after the war, it helped to clear mines from Bangladeshi ports and gave a dozen MiG fighter aircraft to the newly formed Bangladesh Air Force. But the Dhaka-Moscow relations soured after the 1975 military coup, which brought Bangladesh into closer alignment with the United States and China, while the Soviet Union remained out of favour for the rest of the Cold War.
Many other countries including China had also expressed interest in developing Bangladesh’s nuclear capacity but the Bangladesh government led by the Prime Minister found that the Russians offered the best technology and the best deal for the country’s first ever such project. But wider strategic implications could also be in play, signaling a step by Bangladesh away from Chinese influence, and a desire to position itself between the big powers. Or still the deal could have been based on purely economic calculations. In any event, India must have looked at this project positively being suspicious of Beijing’s interests in South Asia, where Bangladesh is a strategic friend of Russia. However, both Bangladesh and Russia should work closely upon promoting bilateral trade, still remaining at a low level despite huge potentials. That is why the governments, ministers, officials and the business leaders should play proactive roles to familiarize each other country’s quality products and services to their peoples. In this case, frequent visits to both the countries with arrangement for permanent exhibitions of their exportable items would work in a larger extent.
During her visit to Russia the Bangladesh Prime Minister took the Russia-Bangladesh relations to a new height, keeping in view the historical foundation of bilateral friendship that was laid by Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, immediately after the liberation of Bangladesh, in 1971. Hasina’s visit at that time was the first by a Bangladeshi Prime Minister in the past 40 years. Bangabandhu visited Moscow in March 1972, to express his deep gratitude for the historic role played by the-then Soviet Union in the independence struggle of the Bangladesh. During the PM’s to Moscow, she had a wide range of talks with Putin covering the bilateral interests and both the leaders witnessed singing of 10 agreements and MoUs, including the crucial deals on cooperation in the fields of nuclear energy, weapons supply, oil and gas exploration projects, and space. These deals were expected to open the path-breaking opportunities for the rapid development of cooperation between the two countries, aimed at giving a thrust to Bangladesh economy, in near future.
In a recent interview with a leading English daily, Russian Ambassador Alexander A Nikolaev said Bangladesh and Russia share same views on many international programs and issues and also the necessity of a multipolar world system and a more equitable economic system. In his eyes, Bangladesh, an important player in South Asia, enjoys a fine relation with Russia but it could be developed further. “There are a few bottlenecks. But the toughest, I suppose, is the bureaucracy in both countries. We are mutually responsible for this bottleneck, he said. Therefore, it appears as a long lasting fact that bureaucracy in any country blocks the pace of development at home and also in the relations with any foreign country.
Therefore, the government must pay proper attention to make the bureaucracy more dynamic to be able to keep pace with the modern world, so that Bangladesh can be a middle-income country by 2021 as dreamt by the government. For that, bilateral relations featured especially by trade and investment must be promoted further with countries like Russia in the greater interest of Bangladesh economy.
(Ibne Siraj is a regular contributor for The New Nation)
