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Old September 7, 2011, 08:58 AM
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In the narrow context: I am very glad that the issue regarding Bangladeshi and Indian enclaves has been addressed to a large extent during this visit. That in itself was a historic achievement. I also hope that we have greater cooperation with India in our effort to improve our railways. Indian Railways may not be pretty, but they do successfully transport millions of people at a low price - something we could really benefit from.

In the wider context: I think we, in Bangladesh, need to have a more critical engagement with the term 'sovereignty'. In the last 40 years we have been trying to consolidate and assert our existence as a Westphalian nation-state. But we now live in a world that is gradually moving away from such a model; some faster than others. We have the EU member states at one end of the spectrum and Israel on the other, with countries who are members of various free trade/free movement agreements/etc inbetween (NAFTA, ASEAN, etc)

'Globalization' has now become a by-word to describe interactions (of almost any kind) in the 21st century but I think 'regionalization' and 'sub-regionalization' is also part of our zeitgeist. Greater cooperation with our local and regional neighbours is inevitable and can even be considered necessary to meet domestic demands. But, going about this highly sensitive matter will require a great deal of introspection and deliberation.

Just like in everything else, we need to consider the examples of other countries, try to avoid their mistakes, improve on their achievements, and all the while remain true to what we consider our national identity to be. It is an issue that is constantly discussed in the country that I am sitting in now, Germany. They have been in the clutches of national socialism, lost two world wars, been quartered and halved by outside forces, yet after reunification and the return of democracy, they have thought it prudent to cede their sovereignty, to an extent, to the EU. It goes without saying that the european common market has some problems as well, but Germany has managed to be one of the strongest economies in the world. We need to observe their example and think about how we can apply it in our particular context. Easier said then done I know, and something that we will constantly have to grapple with - hence why I say critical engagement is required.
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