Hopefully, the other major segment of the relationship having to do with concerns centring on common rivers would receive early attention by staging the long overdue Joint Rivers Commission meeting.

When such an important institutional meet like the JEC one took place in Dhaka after a long lapse of time, the aspiration level was naturally high. On the other hand, the load of issues was very heavy, too. Under the circumstances, no magical results could be expected from the just-concluded JEC meet. Even so, what has been achieved is a breakthrough in that a genuine bilateral effort has got underway to take the relationship forward from a stagnating state it seemed mired in.

The joint agreed minutes signed by Indian External Minister Yashwant Sinha and Bangladesh Foreign Minister M Morshed Khan envisages discussion on free trade agreement (FTA) in the mid-October JEC meeting to be held in New Delhi. Dhaka's demand for free access to its 180 products will be reviewed at that time. Bangladesh's concern over non-tariff and para-tariff barriers put by India will be taken up in mid-August supposedly as a prelude to the FTA consideration in October. As a precursor to the signing of the FTA, a bilateral investment protection agreement will be signed soon. Towards invigoration of trade, both sides have agreed to develop land customs centres at the border together with revamping of the banking links. The commitments towards forging and modernising telecommunication and information technology links between Delhi and Dhaka are welcomed.

There is a perception that Bangladesh's demand for zero-tariff market access to India was linked to India gaining transit and transshipment rights to its north-eastern states. The latter is a politically sensitive issue for Bangladesh and yet in the words of Morshed Khan, "The point was raised and we are discussing it; we have not shied away from it." Sinha said... "We would discuss it further". The gas export issue remained unspoken. No agreement could be reached on India's proposal for commissioning passenger train service between Sealdah of Kolkata and Jamuna bridge in Sirajganj. But a bus service between Dhaka and Agartala will start in the first week of August, being the second route on the offing after the Dhaka-Kolkata service operating since April, 1999.

There is manifestly a new bilateral thrust towards facing up to facts, demands and challenges in the relationship without being ostrich-like or polemical about them. This is a sign of maturity the two countries should try to build up on, albeit within the framework of their enlightened national interests. Sometimes perception is as important as reality and we get a feel of it from what Morshed Khan and Yashwant Sinha had to say to pressmen emerging from the JEC meeting. Khan said, "We achieved unanimity of approach by viewing the issues from the same lens." Said Sinha, "We made very substantial progress and will continue to remain engaged in resolving other issues between us."

True, the JEC meeting in Dhaka has created an ambience for speeding things up from the glacial pace at which the primary issue of trade deficit against Bangladesh was being addressed by India. But one would have expected New Delhi to put in place some confidence-building measures for Bangladesh by way of removing non-tariff barriers against her exports and living up to her earlier commitment to accord duty-free access to 25 categories of goods from Bangladesh. October is some way off; India could still do something about it.