Banquet Speech by Prime Minister at the Banquet held in his honour by Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina

June 19, 1999

Your Excellency Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina,
Hon'ble Ministers of the Bangladesh Government,
My esteemed colleagues,
Distinguished guests,

It is a pleasure to be in Shonar Bangla today. I am even happier to have been able to participate earlier this evening in an event that marks a new initiative in the friendly relations between Inddia and Bangladesh. We thank you for your warm welcome and hospitality.

The Calcutta-Dhaka bus service is meant to meet the long felt needs of people on both sides of the border; and today, it has become a reality.

Excellency, we are gathered here together as citizens of two great countries with a proud tradition of independence, mutual respect and sincere friendship for each other.

As I flew towards Dhaka this morning, over the monsoon clouds, I contemplated some of the features that determine our relationship even as we maintain our separate and sovereign identities. Geography makes us neighbours, the course of history, of shared struggle and sacrifice, has strengthened our bonds; our linguistic cultural heritage is such that we can sing the same music, laugh at the same jokes; above all, our peoples are linked by warmth and goodwill for each other.

It it such feelings, at the popular level, that promote a better understanding of each other through increased contacts which initiatives like the bus service will facilitate. It is such feelings that are the best guarantors of good relations and mutual sense of well being and security.

As nations, in pursuing a policy of good-neighbourliness, it is mutual security that we seek to build, mindful and respectful of the others' identity, sovereignty and concerns as much as we expect the same of our own. Let us build on the mutually supportive foundation.

Excellency, India-Bangladesh friendship was baptised in blood and is time-tested. It is up to us to preserve this legacy from distortions caused by outside forces.

Our two countries have each struggled for independence. We cherish our hard won freedom for it is indeed priceless for what it means to our people in terms of liberty for the individual and for the nation.

We are convinced that just as the struggle to achieve it was worthwhile, so is any struggle to sustain it. India believes that there is no short-term gain that is worth the danger of long-term compromise of a nation's independence.

Excellency, the relationship between India and Bangladesh is vibrant and dynamic. We understand each other as friends do, through varying circumstances in which, most importantly, a steady positive growth is clearly discernible.

The Ganga Waters Treaty is clear proof that given the will on both sides we can work out mutually advantageous solutions through dialogue for even a complicated issue. We look forward to addressing all issues that might arise in our relationship in the same spirit.

While acknowledging that our two countries are natural friends, we also recognise that we can do much more to make our friendship blossom to its full potential.

There is a school of thought, in India as in Bangladesh, which believes that bilateral relations are a zero sum game, that the gain of one side is necessarily a loss for the other. This is a limited view.

Genuine partnership between sovereign countries is possible; it is also always mutually advantageous. As Kazi Nazrul Islam asks.

"Who can oppress whom when self-consciousness is firm?"

This is the year of the birth centenary of the great poet Kazi Nazrul Islam. I had the privilege of visiting his birth place Churulia last month. I was pleased to learn that Your Excellency had also been to Churulia during your visit to India a few months back. May I reiterate here what I said on the occasion in Calcutta:

Excellency, it can become a reality for countries to work together for the common good of their people, without infringing on each other's sovereignty. Economic cooperation, likewise need not mean that one country seeks to derive undue advantage from the other, such cooperation necessarily has to be beneficial to both the partners to the sustainable.

Excellency, we in India have followed the progress of Bangladsh with deep interest, admiration and empathy. We are both committed to human values.

We approach our complex social problems with a human touch, conscious that it is people in our villages and cities, our youth and adults, who together form the backbone of our progress.

To this vision, we add a profound belief in democracy, a commitment to narrow the gap between the government and the governed and to guarantee the healthy growth of democratic traditions.

The Agreement that Your Excellency's government negotiated on the Chittagong Hill Trade and the Treaty between our two countries on the sharing of the Ganga Waters are clear proof of the vision, statesmanship and determination of Your Excellency to find practical and pragmatic solutions to issues that appear to be intractable.

To Bangladesh also belongs the credit of being the initiator of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation SAARC. We have come to value the positive outlook and serious purpose which Bangladesh brings to the councils of SAARC. Similarly, we are partners in the BIMSTEC regional arrangement and have been happy at the cooperative relationships that are developing within this organisation. We see a bright future for regional cooperative arrangements and India will make its full contribution to the success of these arrangements.

This approach continues as Bangladesh address its current challenges led by Your Excellency's zeal, remembering Rabindranath Tagore's words.

Indeed, it is when we are fearless that we can best rise to meet the challenges that will confront us.

Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen: I invite you all to rise and join me in a toast:

to the health and personal well-being of our gracious host, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina

to the continued progress and prosperity of the friendly people of Bangladesh; and

to lasting friendship, affection and cooperation between India and Bangladesh.

Thank you.