NEW DELHI: The move by India's Tata Group to pump in $2 billion in investments in Bangladesh appears to have led Dhaka to restore a semblance of the old warmth in bilateral ties, strained of late over a variety of issues.

Visiting Commerce Minister Altaf Hossain Choudhury was Wednesday (Nov 17) upbeat about the proposed Tata investment, the biggest in Bangladesh, saying it is a "big signal" to South Asia and the rest of the world that Bangladesh is an attractive destination for foreign investment.

The Tata Group signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Bangladesh on the proposed investment last month.

Tata would not have decided to invest $2 billion in Bangladesh's steel, power and fertiliser sectors unless it was sure that its investment was safe, Choudhury said in a breakfast interaction organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

"They would not have jumped into a mess. They know the conditions in the country," he added.

He said there was an erroneous impression that Bangladesh-India relations were all about border problems, illegal immigrants and other controversial issues.

Indian political parties accuse Bangladesh with sending thousands of illegal immigrants into this country across the 4,000-km porous border.

Dhaka says there are no Bangladeshi illegal immigrants in India. It also denies New Delhi's charge of giving sanctuary to Indian insurgent groups active in the northeastern region, bordering Bangladesh and instead, accuses New Delhi of harbouring Bangladeshi fugitives.

"We are friendly neighbours. You assisted us in our liberation struggle. You not only assisted us, you gave us your blood and we are grateful for it," Choudhury said referring to Indian assistance in the 1971 liberation of his country, formerly East Pakistan.

Such conciliatory statements have been rare from either side in recent times marked by a welter of accusations and counter accusations.

Indicating also a refreshing change in Dhaka's approach to bilateral trade, Choudhury, the first Bangladeshi commerce minister to visit India in over five years, refrained from harping on the $1 billion trade surplus that New Delhi has with his country.

"Trade and commerce is lopsided, with balance in your favour. But I am not concerned about," said the former fighter pilot, who retired as air vice marshal of the Bangladesh Air Force in 1995 and joined Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).

"This is not a big issue. We have been discussing how to remove this (trade imbalance), he said.

Choudhury, here at the invitation of his Indian counterpart Kamal Nath, sought to dispel the perception that there was hectic bargaining going on between the two countries over trade issues.

He said Bangladesh had changed during the last 30 years and the country had transformed from a producer of primary products to a manufacturer of sophisticated goods.

He said foreign direct investment in the country had been growing, as evidenced by the fact that there was not a "single inch of land" left in the six export processing zones set up by the government.

"We are setting up seven more EPZs (export processing zones) to accommodate the growing number of foreigners wanting to invest in Bangladesh."

Bangladesh and India were on course to seal a free trade area (FTA) pact. "It is coming, it is a question of time," he said.

Indo-Asian News Service