Burma has agreed to sign two bilateral agreements with Bangladesh to enhance security cooperation with particular emphasis on border security, officials of the Bangladesh foreign ministry said on 2 September.
A Bangladeshi Foreign Ministry spokesman said: “Two memorandums of understanding (MoUs) on Security Dialogue and Cooperation; and Land Border Cooperation are ready to be signed by the two neighbors."
According to Bangladeshi officials the Bangladesh side also put a proposal forward to Burma that the two countries sign a 'Framework Agreement on Trust and Cooperation for Development.'
The Bangladeshi Foreign Secretary, Shahidul Haque said: "We have taken different initiatives to advance the relationship with Myanmar. Myanmar is responding positively to these initiatives.
"Bangladesh has been talking about the MoU on Security Dialogue and Cooperation for a long time, but there was never a positive response from Myanmar.
“Myanmar has recently agreed to sign the instrument to enable both sides to initiate a dialogue to detect and address various issues."
Bangladeshi officials said that when Burma proposed a MoU on Land Border Cooperation Bangladesh agreed to it. They said that they expect both MoUs to be signed at a ministerial level after the November elections in Burma.
The Bangladeshi officials said that under the MoU on Security Dialogue and Cooperation both sides will meet at least once a year to discuss a variety of issues which will include: defence cooperation, border security management, unauthorised border crossings, human trafficking and smuggling, prevention of drug and counterfeit money smuggling, armed robbery, theft from ships, unintentional maritime border crossing by fishermen, and terror financing.
Edited in English for BNI by Mark Inkey
