No new deal on transit now

Dhaka and New Delhi will sign a document, during Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Bangladesh tomorrow, covering the existing protocols on transit and future deals the two countries may make on regional connectivity, Foreign Minister Dipu Moni said yesterday.
The "exchange of letter" will serve as a roadmap for how India and Bangladesh are going to establish regional connectivity based on the existing transit-related protocols, she said at a media briefing on Manmohan's two-day visit to Bangladesh, first by an Indian premier since 1999.
Analysts see the move as falling short of a formal treaty on transit of Indian goods through Bangladesh's roads, railways, and seaports. Bangladesh says its infrastructure is far from ready to tackle heavy vehicles India will use once full transit is allowed.
Manmohan will also review the progress in implementing the decisions the two countries made during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's visit to New Delhi in January last year.
The Bangladesh foreign minister said the proposed document will also include the use of Chittagong and Mongla ports by India as part of regional connectivity. "It will be made keeping in mind that similar connectivity will also be given to Nepal and Bhutan."
Whatever legal instruments will be necessary on the basis of the previously-signed protocols will be incorporated by the two countries, Dipu Moni said.
She said the two neighbours agreed on a number of transit-related issues, including the use of Chittagong and Mongla ports by India. New protocols on these and other matters like route selection, infrastructure development, and fixing fees will be signed in future. The document will also serve as a legal instrument for such transit protocols.
The foreign minister further said Dhaka and New Delhi will sign an interim agreement on sharing the water of Teesta river on the basis of "equity". However, she would not provide details about the rate of sharing before the deal is signed.
She said Singh's talks with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina are expected to take the relations between the two countries to a new height.
"This is going to be a historic visit, important not only for Bangladesh and India but for the region," she said.
The two leaders will sign a framework agreement spelling out a comprehensive long-term cooperation between their nations, Dipu Moni said without providing further details.
Once the framework agreement is signed the full text will be made public, she said responding to the opposition's concern that the government is secretive about the deals.
She said deals will be signed also on sharing the water of Feni river, demarcation of 6.5-kilometre stretch of un-demarcated common border, and transfer of enclaves and adversely possessed lands.
The two sides will sign MoUs and protocols on extension of railway route from Rohanpur to Singabad, cooperation in the fields of renewable energy and fisheries, cooperation between Dhaka University and Jawaharlal Nehru University, telecast of BTV and Durdarshan programmes in both countries, conservation of the mangrove forest Sundarbans, and conservation of Royal Bengal Tigers.