US embassy cable - 03RANGOON394

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 RANGOON 000394 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/BCLTV 
CDR USPACOM FOR FPA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/25/2013 
TAGS: PREL, ETRD, PTER, BG, BM 
SUBJECT: BANGLADESH PRIME MINISTER LOOKS EASTWARD, 
DISCOVERS BURMA 
 
REF: HANOI 694 
 
Classified By: COM Carmen Martinez. Reason 1.5 (d). 
 
 1. (C) Summary: Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's 
three day visit to Burma produced understandings on trade, 
transport connections, and refugees.  Terrorism was not 
discussed, but, according to the Bangladeshi Defense Attache, 
Bangladesh has continued with efforts to clean up its side of 
the border. End Summary. 
 
2.  (C) The visit of Bangladesh's Prime Minister Khaleda Zia 
went very well, according to Bangladesh's Defense Attache, 
Brigadier Salim Akhtar.  The visit was meant to reciprocate 
Than Shwe's December 2002 visit to Bangladesh and underline 
Bangladesh's new interest in relations with Burma and the 
other states of Southeast Asia.  Begum Zia met with Than Shwe 
for about 90 minutes on March 20 and agreed on a number of 
key points, including: 
 
-- A Road Connection between Dhaka and Rangoon:  According to 
Brigadier Salim this will involve construction of a small 
bridge upstream on the Naaf River and a short stretch of road 
in Burma's Rakhine State.  If all goes well, construction on 
the bridge and road will start this year. 
 
-- Coastal Shipping: An MOU signed on March 20 will allow 
direct service between Chittagong and Rangoon.  Until now, 
cargoes between the two states were shipped via Singapore, 
 
-- Trade: A second MOU established a joint trade commission 
and a bilateral trading account.  Both arrangements are 
intended to facilitate trade. 
 
-- Refugees: Essentially, the two sides agreed to let the 
Rohingya Muslim refugee issue die.  Burma recommitted itself 
to accepting back all refugees who could establish their 
credentials as genuine residents of Burma; Bangladesh made no 
commitments, but implicitly agreed to accomodate any refugees 
who could not or would not return to Burma. 
 
Burmese Business Community Bullish on Bangladesh 
 
3. (C) According to members of the Union of Myanmar Chamber 
of Commerce and Industry (UMCCI), the trade fair that 
accompanied PM Zia's visit may lead to better ties.  Burma's 
exports to Bangladesh now largely consist of smuggled goods 
(mostly rice) or transhipped consumer products from China. 
While the business leaders don't believe improved trade ties 
will end smuggling, they do hope for some increase in legal 
trade (e.g.; agricultural and wood products from Burma in 
return for pharmaceuticals and cement from Bangladesh). 
 
False Rumors 
 
4. (C) According to Salim, the two sides did not discuss any 
plans for energy cooperation.  U.S. companies in Bangladesh 
(meaning UNOCAL) had attempted to promote a pipeline from a 
prospective gas field off Burma's Rakhine State to Bangladesh 
and then onwards to India, but there has been no official 
backing for the proposal from either Burma or Bangldesh. 
Similarly, according to Salim and the UMCCI representatives, 
news stories of Burmese plans to lease rice cultivation land 
to Bangladeshi entrepreneurs appeared to reflect only the 
musings of Bangladeshi private sector interests.  There had 
been no discussion at all of that possibility during the 
official talks. 
 
Terrorism 
 
5. (C) Salim also said that the two sides did not get into 
any serious discussion of terrorism along their common 
border.  However, he said that the Burmese were aware of 
Bangladeshi efforts to clean up the area.  Salim said that 
the Bangladeshi Army had run sweeps through the area in June 
2002, December 2002, and February 2003.  The target was 
gun-running by the Rohingya Solidarity Organization (RSO), 
which he said was funneling arms from Thailand to criminal 
gangs in Bangladesh.  Salim noted that the RSO had only 150 
to 200 men under arms and were more a nuisance than a serious 
threat to anyone.  Nevertheless, the BDG was determined to 
deal with the problem and to bring it to an end by June 2003, 
if possible. 
Strategy 
 
6. (C) Salim said that this new openness in relations with 
Burma was part of Bangladesh's own "Look Eastward" policy. 
Just as India had reopened relations with Burma out of an 
early 1990s fear of encirclement by China and its allies, so 
Bangladesh has taken the same step out of a similar fear of 
encirclement by India and its allies.  According to Salim, 
there was also the lure of trade with Southeast Asia.  For 
too long, he said, Bangladesh had focussed its foreign policy 
on India, China, and the West, without ever considering the 
opportunities in Southeast Asia.  This visit, together with 
the exchange of visits between Begum Zia and Thailand's Prime 
Minister Thaksin in December 2002, were steps towards a 
broader and more balanced set of relations for Bangladesh. 
Comment 
 
7. (C) Bangladesh is the latest of the regional states to 
discover Burma.  Like China, India, and Thailand before it, 
Bangladesh has evidently come to the conclusion that there is 
more to be gained from dealing with Burma than from shunning 
it.  From the Burmese side, there's no arguing that the SPDC, 
increasingly isolated politically by the West, is having 
signficant diplomatic success in improving its economic and 
political relations with neighbors and ASEAN partners.  The 
visit of Prime Minister Zia, on the heels of a trip by Senior 
General Than Shwe to Vietnam, demonstrates that this 
diplomatic campaign, at first focused on the major players 
(India, China, and Thailand), is now expanding to countries 
with which Burma has not had historically strong ties.  End 
Comment. 
 
8.  (SBU) This cable has been cleared with Embassy Dhaka. 
Martinez