National interests must take centre stage

The Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) is learnt to have taken steps to enhance cargo  handling capacity of Biman. The move has been in response to India's termination of the transshipment facility for Bangladeshi exports through that country's land, sea and airports. The quick move of the interim government to increase manpower and facilitate  uninterrupted cargo service by the Biman is definitely a move in the right direction. Notably, every time any Indian authority took measures that affected Bangladesh's interests in some way, the interim government, unlike the previous governments, has taken countermeasures to protect its interests. Had Biman improved its cargo capacity earlier, the present situation could not have arisen in the first place. The fact that additional  staff is being employed at the Dhaka airport to enhance its cargo clearance capacity,  activities are ongoing at an accelerated pace to make the airport's third terminal  fully operational by October next, starting cargo handling operation by the Sylhet Osmani International Airport by April 27 and similar plans afoot for the Chattogram airport are definitely welcome developments. Along with capacity expansion, it is equally important to streamline customs clearance operation of the airports to make those simpler,  faster and cheaper.

The initiatives of the Civil Aviation Authority and the sole cargo handling agent, the Biman Bangladesh Airlines, or Biman, in this direction have been  long time coming. Though the present move is to create an alternative route for the Bangladeshi exports, especially the garment products to  their overseas destinations, the long-term impact of it would make the Biman Bangladesh Airlines, or Biman, more active and turn it, if possible, into a profit-making concern. Of course, for the present, the main purpose is timely shipment of the country's chief foreign exchange earner, the apparel products. In fact, dependence on a third country for  any vital service can never be called a good decision. Even such services can face disruptions even if the third country in question might not have done it wilfully.

When it comes to transporting goods through rail, road, sea or airport of a third country, there is always the risk of dislocations due to accidents, natural or manmade. In that case, the third country would be unintentionally responsible for the disruptions. Similar reasons may be behind, say, a vital service like power supply, or movement of foodstuffs from any single source outside Bangladesh. When it is intentional as in the present case of cessation of the transshipment arrangement for the export of certain Bangladesh-origin goods overseas, then it is obviously a cause for concern. One wonders, if and when similar other arrangements with that country might come up against challenges of a similar kind in the future. One may recall at this point the  Indian ban on cattle export in 2014. Though earlier Bangladesh was dependent on Indian cattle imported or smuggled through the border to meet its regular demand for bovine meat and more so when the (cattle's) demand shot up manifold during the Muslim religious festival of Eid-ul Adha, that country slapped a ban on cattle export in 2014. The main reason for such a decision on the part of the government of India was the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) then came to power. Interestingly, according to a review of the US Department of Agriculture in 2016, India by then had become the world's largest beef exporter, accounting for 20 per cent of the world's beef trade. However, the 2014's ban on cattle export definitely caused severe supply shortage of cattle meat in Bangladesh  for the time being.  But soon the country, thanks to its resilience in the face of any kind of adversity,  overcame the temporary disadvantage. A report published in a local English daily in August 2019 referring to the  Bangladesh Livestock Services (BLS) said that close to 2.9 million cattle farms in that  year reared 11.18 million cattle heads mainly as sacrificial animals for the Eid-ul-Adha celebrations. The thriving livestock sector created employment for half a million people in that sector. It's like as the popular phrase goes, 'one door closes and another one opens'.

The same has been the case with onion, so important for cuisine. In 2019, for instance, onion price saw an unprecedented surge in Bangladesh  due to India's ban on the export of the agricultural product.  A similar ban on onion export was imposed by that country in 2023.

Of course, those decisions were made with an eye to protecting its domestic market, or in the interest of the onion farmers of India. But since Bangladesh has been dependent on Indian onion, the sudden bans or raise in duties on export caused severe supply shortages of that item in Bangladesh. But whenever Bangladeshi onion farmers increased their acreage of cultivation they could produce surplus onion in the country. In any case,  it all depends on the government of the time to adopt the right policy at the right time.

Understandably, some decisions by the interim government taken in national interest might have irked the government of India.

But what is important to consider under such circumstances is what has prompted the third country concerned  to have taken certain decisions. If such decisions are made to protect the national interest of the country concerned, then it should not be a thorn in the side of  a third country. For it is an accepted truth in international relations that every sovereign country has the  right to take decisions to protect its national interest. So, nations need to be accommodative when it comes to each other's national interests. But if such interests are at cross purposes, for instances, sharing water of trans-boundary rivers between next-door neighbours like Bangladesh and India, it is advisable to settle matters through dialogue. So, unless there is any justifiable reason to be on a collision course, diplomacy is the right path to take. That requires the recognition of the fact that every country, however small it might be in terms of its size and population, has its self-respect as a sovereign nation. Many big nations often fails to accept this simple truth. As a result, tensions and sometimes conflicts arise. But sooner the close neighbours begin to realise this basic truth and start holding each other with due respect, the better it is for regional peace and growth.

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