Bangladesh’s proposal to change the route of that portion of the Asian Highway that will cross its territory has been turned down by the six countries that Bangladesh had ((New Age)

approached, on the grounds of ‘time constraint’.

Foreign ministry sources said Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and Sri Lanka, in separate letters, regretted that they could not agree to government’s proposal because it was too late to change the route.

Dhaka proposed a change in the route through Yangon via Teknaf (AH-41 route) instead of the existing route from Tamabil to Benapole or Banglabandha (AH-1 route).

China, the main ally of Bangladesh’s ‘look east’ policy, also turned down the proposal due to time constraints earlier in November.

‘The text of the letters is more or less the same, and cited time constraint as the main reason for refusal,’ said an official of the foreign ministry, which received the letters in the last week of November and forwarded them to the communications ministry.

The foreign ministry sent letters to all these countries in line with the decision of an October 20 inter-ministerial meeting on the Asian Highway which asked the ministry to pursue China, Thailand and Myanmar to support its proposal at the Asian Highway’s joint working committee’s meeting scheduled in Bangkok on December 14-15.

The deadline for Bangladesh to ratify the inter-governmental agreement to join the Asian Highway, which will connect 32 nations from Tokyo to Ankara, is December 31.

Twenty-seven countries, including Japan, China, Malaysia, Pakistan, Iran, Turkey and all the South Asian nations except Bangladesh, signed the agreement in 2004.

‘It is very frustrating to see the failure of our diplomatic efforts to convince the countries on this issue,’ said a top official of the communications ministry, terming the failure a big diplomatic debacle for the government. ‘Under this circumstance, the ministry will send a summary to the cabinet explaining the developments and underlining the need for a policy decision,’ said the communications ministry official. ‘We have to push the matter as quickly as possible as time to join the network is running out.’

Earlier, the cabinet on June 20 sent back the proposal of joining the Asian Highway to the ministry, asking for further scrutiny.

The foreign ministry favoured ratification of the agreement because of the importance of the road network’s impact on trade and commerce and relations with neighbouring countries.

‘Bangladesh may be isolated if we do not link ourselves with the proposed road network. Joining the route will help Bangladesh to strengthen its “look east” policy, especially its relations with China,’ said the foreign ministry in its opinion.

The foreign ministry also said that according to article 15(3) of the Asian Highway Agreement, Bangladesh does not have any obligation to provide a corridor or transit facility to India or any other countries. The ministry said the government should ratify the agreement first and then bargain with the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), the initiator of the project, to give the AH-41 road the status of AH-1 as articles 10(2), 11 and 14 of the agreement said only signatories of the agreement can propose any changes of the route plan.

But the October 20 meeting presided over by the communications minister, Nazmul Huda, decided to stick to the government’s earlier stance for recognition of the proposed AH-41 route as the Asian Highway within Bangladesh, as both the entry and exit points of the existing Asian Highway would fall in India. The government fears that the highway would thus turn into an Indian transit route.

The AH-41 route is considered sub-regional road in the Asian Highway’s map. Bangladesh had earlier pursued the ESCAP and member countries to treat the road as an international road like the AH-1.