Bangladesh's Ahmed backs Japan's bid for permanent spot on UNSC

DHAKA (Kyodo) Bangladeshi President Shahabuddin Ahmed told Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori on Sunday his country will continue to support Japan's bid to become a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, a Japanese Foreign Ministry official said.

"We believe Japan has the right to become a permanent member, not because it is providing economic aid to developing countries, but because of what it has achieved since World War II," the official quoted Ahmed as saying.

Mori, who was on a two-day visit to Bangladesh that began Saturday, told Ahmed he will emphasize the need to reform the UNSC at the U.N. Millennium Summit in New York next month, according to the official.

Bangladesh is currently a nonpermanent member of the UNSC.

Mori also told Ahmed that Japan wants to cooperate further with Bangladesh, which will host the 2001 summit of the Conference on Non-Aligned Movement. The nonaligned group consists of 112 nations and the Palestinian Authority.

During the meeting at his official residence, Ahmed thanked Japan, the largest single aid donor to Bangladesh, for its help.

Most recently, Japan committed up to 16.011 billion yen in untied soft loans to Bangladesh for four infrastructure projects, and up to 36.8 million yen in grants to buy sports equipment. The two countries exchanged diplomatic notes on the assistance Friday.

After his talks with Ahmed, Mori visited the former residence of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the leader of Bangladesh's war of independence against Pakistan and the first Bangladeshi prime minister.

Accompanied by Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed, Rahman's daughter, Mori made a brief tour of the residence, where Rahman was killed in August 1975. The residence is now a museum.

"We are grateful that you visited this museum in August, a month of grief for us," Hasina was quoted as telling Mori.

Mori also traveled to Savar, about 35 km west of Dhaka, to lay a wreath in a ceremony honoring those who died in the war of independence in 1971.

Mori's Bangladesh visit was the first leg of his weeklong tour of four South Asian countries that will later take him to Pakistan, India and Nepal. He was the first Japanese prime minister to visit Bangladesh since Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu in 1990.

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori and Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina agreed on the need to increase the number of both permanent and temporary seats on the U.N. Security Council, a Japanese official said.

During their two-hour talks on Saturday, however, Hasina refrained from committing to Mori's request to include the issue in her speech at the U.N. Millennium Summit, to be held in New York next month, the Foreign Ministry official told reporters.

"United Nations reform is an urgent and necessary matter. I will emphasize this at the U.N. Millennium Summit," Mori said, calling on Hasina to do the same, according to the official.

Hasina said the U.N. should be reformed to improve transparency, but said she will "deal appropriately" with the question of whether to include it in her speech.

Bangladesh is currently a nonpermanent member of the UNSC, which Japan wants to join as a permanent member.

In their talks, the two leaders also agreed on various measures that Mori proposed in a bid to strengthen Japan's ties with Bangladesh and Southern Asia in general, the official said.

One was Mori's plan to invite 5,000 youths from South Asia to visit Japan.

He also proposed setting up a Mori Fellowship under a Japan-South Asia exchange program to invite scholars and artists to Japan, the official said.

On the bilateral front, Mori promised to continue supporting Bangladesh's efforts to eradicate poverty through economic development and proposed inviting 100 Bangladeshi information technology experts to Japan for training.

Japan will loan Bangladesh nearly 16 billion yen to build bridges, develop rural infrastructure and bring electricity to villages, the official said.

Mori also applauded efforts by Hasina to ease tension between arch rivals India and Pakistan.

Bangladesh, which has some nuclear power capability, ratified the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty on nuclear weapons last year. Neither India nor Pakistan have done so.

Hasina invited the Emperor to visit Bangladesh in 2002, the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries. Mori said he will convey the message to the Emperor, the official said.

Mori arrived in Dhaka earlier in the day, kicking off a weeklong tour of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal. He is the first Japanese prime minister to visit the region in 10 years.

Mori said Saturday that he will call on India and Pakistan to sign an international treaty banning nuclear tests while he is on a weeklong tour of South Asian nations.

Mori also told reporters aboard a government jet headed for Dhaka, the first stop on the four-nation tour, that he will urge the two arch-enemies to resume their stalled dialogue in order to ease tensions in the region.

"I would like the two countries to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and will strongly urge them to do so during this trip," Mori said.

"I will also appeal for the realization of sustainable peace between India and Pakistan," he said. Despite Mori's calls, India and Pakistan are unlikely to agree to Japan's request for an immediate signing of the CTBT. But Mori is hoping the two will show a positive attitude toward nuclear nonproliferation.

"It is unfortunate that there are no indications that the two countries will sign anytime soon," Mori said. "I will take this opportunity to convey my feelings on this issue."

Asked whether he plans to lift Japan's economic sanctions against the two countries, Mori said any decision on the issue will be made only after carefully assessing the countries' efforts toward nuclear nonproliferation and their ties with Japan.

The measures have been in place since May 1998, when the two countries conducted tit-for-tat nuclear tests.

According to government sources, Mori will offer to partially ease the sanctions and provide extra yen loans to ongoing construction projects if Islamabad and New Delhi promise to continue their freeze on nuclear tests.

The move would still mark a softening of Japan's stance, which has previously made the signing of the CTBT a condition for lifting the sanctions.

Mori, who left Tokyo's Haneda airport early Saturday, arrived in Dhaka in the afternoon. Mori is the second Japanese prime minister to visit Bangladesh after Toshiki Kaifu did so in 1990.

He was scheduled to hold talks with Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at the prime minister's office later in the day. During the meeting, Mori was expected to reiterate Japan's commitment to assisting in the development of the country.

Japan is the biggest donor of aid to Bangladesh and a development partner in infrastructure work in the country.

Mori will leave for Islamabad this afternoon and hold talks with Pakistan's military ruler, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, on Monday before going on to New Delhi, where he will meet with Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on Wednesday.

Both India and Pakistan say they have not obtained the national consensus they need to sign the CTBT, which stipulates that all 44 declared and potential nuclear states must ratify the treaty for it to come into force.