Bangladesh, Myanmar move to break ice

Bangladesh and Myanmar are set to break the ice in their relations by narrowing the decades-old “trust deficit” between the two neighbours.

Foreign Secretary Md Shahidul Haque on Wednesday said Naypyidaw responded positively to Dhaka’s proposal to have “security dialogue” to discuss “the problems in the bordering area”.

“Once we have security dialogue, we would have close, intense discussion between two bordering forces,” he said speaking at a seminar on Bangladesh-Myanmar relations that he said faced “trust deficit”.

The Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS) organised the seminar bringing in a delegation of Myanmar Institute of Strategic and International Studies (MISIS), with its director general Major General SM Shafiuddin Ahmed in chair.

The Secretary said under the security dialogue “we will focus discussion on security issues which is hurting the relationship including irregular movement of people in that area”.

Bangladesh is upset with the tensions in Myanmar's Rakhine province that is forcing thousands of Muslim Rohingyas to flee into Bangladesh.

The issue has been seen as the main irritant in the ties, though Myanmar does not acknowledge them as its citizens.

The foreign secretary, however, said instead of blaming each other, “we should work to solve the problem between the relationships”.

“We need to decisively and aggressively go and solve it,” he said, citing a number of steps Bangladesh took in a gesture of goodwill to get closer to Myanmar.

He said in the last year’s foreign office consultation at Naypyidaw Bangladesh pitched for a focused discussion on the problems in an “open manner”.

“If we understand and feel that the problem is in the bordering area between the two countries, we need to address in a focused manner, in an open manner,” was what he had told their officials last year.

“Let’s have a security dialogue, let’s call security as security, not cover it under trade and diplomatic relations.”

The secretary said he was told that the Myanmar President had given an indication that “we should move in that direction”.

Dhaka has submitted a MoU that the Secretary hoped would be signed shortly.

“We are now talking about setting a communication channel between two border forces,” he said.

He said the discussion had taken a positive turn.

“I think there is an intention to have a discussion on not soft issues but hard issues,” he said.

Myanmar’s deputy foreign secretary would come to Dhaka June 18 for the next foreign office consultation.

Haque cited a number of steps in the last one year that Dhaka had taken to “build trust”.

He said Dhaka had allowed Burmese frigate for the first time last year to use Naaf River to go into their part of the lake.

He said this showed “Bangladesh is making all kinds of gesture that are positive”.

The frigate stayed in Myanmar water bordering Cox’s Bazar region for a month and went back.

“We would like to see next time when we make an offer we get similar reciprocity that will show strength between the two countries,” the secretary said.

He also cited exchange of visits between Bangladesh and Myanmar armed forces as he said number of avenues had been opened for “trust-building”.

But he stressed on changing “mindset” of both sides.

“We are living in a new world and this world will not be static. In 10/15 years the world will be radically changed."

He said today’s youths would see the problems in a different way.

He promised that the Bangladesh government under the Prime Minister’s directives was trying to create “best possible relations” with Myanmar.

A major focus of the ruling Awami League’s election manifesto was building relations with neighbouring countries and the foreign secretary said “we identified Myanmar as an important neighbour with whom we would like to build the relations”.

“You must notice there is a significant change in our foreign relations with Myanmar.”

Haque hoped this would be reciprocated and would bring “some substantive changes in the situation”.

Ambassador U Wynn Lwin of MISIS in his speech said Myanmar and Bangladesh were “very good friends and Myanmar is one of the first ten countries to recognise Bangladesh”.

He noted that in previous years Bangladesh and Myanmar settled many thorny bilateral issues including the demarcation of land boundary between the two countries.

“We need each other’s cooperation to solve the problems,” he also said.