Time News Desk: Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen yesterday said one country should not be deprived of its due share in the water of trans-border rivers and that issues of domestic politics in one country should not hurt the sentiments of the majority of the people in another one.
He also disfavoured the sudden imposition of tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade and urged all countries to remove restrictions on cross-border investment.
The minister was delivering a lecture on "Promoting Culture of Peace for Shared Prosperity: A Vision for South Asia", organized at the Vivekananda International Foundation in New Delhi.
In an apparent reference to the pending issues of the sharing of water of the Teesta and other common rivers with India, he said geographies have destined South Asian countries to take the benefit of natural resources, including rivers, and one country should not be deprived of its due share.
Momen, who is in Delhi to attend the G20 foreign ministers' meeting, also said, "We should be mindful that issues of domestic politics should not hurt the sentiments of the majority of the people of another country."
Pointing out that South Asia has one of the lowest levels of intra-regional trade in the world due to prevailing trade barriers, the foreign minister said a country should not abruptly impose tariff and non-tariff barriers to offset the prospects of trade.
He urged all countries to remove restrictions on investment from one country to another one to promote economic and trade prosperity.
Momen put forward a five-point plan for long-lasting friendship between the South Asian countries and sustaining peace in this region.
He said, "Thanks to our constitutional framework again, caste or religious identity could never divert our core value of secularism.
"We have been able to protect the rights of all religious and ethnic minorities. We believe communal harmony is the prerequisite to a stable Bangladesh."
The minister said the basic element of the "Culture of Peace" is to inculcate a mindset of tolerance, a mindset of respect towards others, irrespective of religion, ethnicity, color, background, or race.
