Harun ur Rashid

Former Bangladesh Ambassador to the UN, Geneva

Likelihood of agreement on Teesta water sharing

On the last week of May 2018, Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said that the signing of an agreement on sharing Teesta water would not be possible without taking West Bengal on board. She said this at a press conference in New Delhi, according to a video record published on the external affairs ministry website.

Five reasons why Kim agreed to meet Trump

No sitting US president has ever met a North Korean leader before. The historic meeting on June 12 between US Donald Trump and North Korean Supreme leader Kim Jong Un ended with historic results. The meeting generated so much goodwill that the US President expressed his desire to visit North Korea and to invite the North Korean leader to Washington.

The crisis of fresh water

In his famous poem “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”, the 18th-century English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge eloquently reflects on the scarcity of water in the sea: “Water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink”.

Blue Economy - Are we ready for it?

Blue economy means extraction of the resources of sea for the growth of an economy. Bangladesh has settled maritime boundary disputes with Myanmar in 2012 and with India in 2014 through an arbitral method. It is estimated that Bangladesh has acquired 118,813 square kilometres of the Bay of Bengal. The areas of resources include 200 nautical miles of exclusive economic zone and over 354 nautical miles of resources on seabed (continental shelf). It is estimated that the resources from the sea of Bangladesh constitute 81 percent of the resources existing in its land territory.

West Bengal and Assam election results and its impact on Bangladesh

The Election Commission in India needs to be congratulated for conducting a free and fair election in Assam and West Bengal, among others, as no party has alleged any rigging in the outcome of elections. Both Trinomool Congress and BJP did much better than expected in the two states.

The ugly face of the Bangkok explosion

No country is now immune to domestic or internationally-linked terrorism. Terrorism broadly falls into various categories, such as ideological or class-struggle or cross-border terrorism.

TALK THE TALK

After the 1965 Indo-Pakistan war, the then Soviet Union brokered a peace agreement at Tashkent. Russia has again taken the initiative

Where does Bangladesh stand?

Cabotage restriction means that Bangladeshi trucks may move to Bhutan, India and Nepal with Bangladeshi goods but cannot pick up Indian, Bhutanese or Nepalese goods on its way back to Bangladesh. That means Bangladeshi trucks have to return empty.

June 10, 2015
June 10, 2015

Unresolved Issues

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Bangladesh has ushered in a new chapter not only in bilateral relations but in a significant way for the sub-region...

June 2, 2015
June 2, 2015

Oslo conference on Rohingyas and Suu Kyi's exclusion

Over the last 15 days, the world watched with horror and disbelief the news reports about Rohingyas from Myanmar drifting in over-crowded vessels in the Andaman Sea, half-starved, disease-stricken and dying.

May 26, 2015
May 26, 2015

China-Bangladesh: Strengthening partnership

Bangladesh has been able to maintain a balanced relationship with China and India because the country needs both the economic giants of Asia to quicken its pace of economic and social development.

May 19, 2015
May 19, 2015

Will strategic differences be removed?

India can be a global power if economic invigoration is injected through building infrastructure on roads, highways and railways and he is eager to follow the Chinese model of progress.

May 12, 2015
May 12, 2015

MODI'S VISIT TO BANGLADESH: Hope for faster resolutions

ON May 6 and 7, in both the houses of parliament, the Indian government passed the historic constitution amendment bill (119th) paving the way to the implementation of the 1974 Indira-Mujib Land Boundary Agreement and its 2011 Protocol.

May 6, 2015
May 6, 2015

China reaches out to Indian Ocean through Pakistan

China is uncomfortable about the Indo-US alliance to dominate the region.

April 28, 2015
April 28, 2015

Unabated border killings

Eighteen unarmed Bangladeshis were reportedly killed by the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) along the Indo-Bangladesh border in the

April 21, 2015
April 21, 2015

A new era in US-Cuba relations

Cuba is only 90 miles from Florida. It is even closer than the US state of Hawaii. Although so close to each other, the diplomatic ties between the US and Cuba were frozen more than five decades ago.

April 14, 2015
April 14, 2015

The changing dynamics of power in the Middle East

POLITICAL develop-ments in the Middle East are changing and dynamics of realpolitik is at play on the heels of Tehran's recent framework

April 6, 2015
April 6, 2015

A mutual opportunity

Sujata Mehta, Indian Ministry of External Affairs Secretary (Multilateral and Economic Relations), is expected to be in Bangladesh from April 5 to 7.

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