Progress in talks over leasing Myanmar lands

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Bangladesh and Myanmar Monday made progress on Dhaka's proposal to lease some arable lands in Myanmar for agricultural production as a delegation from here will visit Yangon next week for further discussion, reports UNB.
"We made some progress in our talks to take lease of some arable lands of Myanmar for agricultural production by private entrepreneurs," Acting Foreign Secretary Touhid Hossain told reporters at the end of the Foreign Ministry level consultations.
Myanmar's Deputy Foreign Minister U Kyaw Thu led his country's 4-member delegation to the second consultation between Dhaka and Yangon.
"Today we had discussions on a range of subjects, including increased trade, need to resolve Rohingya issues finally and amicably, contract farming, road linkages and need to devise a method to negotiate maritime boundary," he said.
The proposal to lease some patches of Myanmar's cultivable lands was put on the table during Foreign Adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury's visit to Myanmar last April.
The Bangladesh side had offered US$ 8.0 to US$ 25 to lease the lands where paddy, onion, soybean, maize, tea and sugarcane could be grown. A vast area of land can also be used for livestock farming.
Touhid said a delegation from the private sector would go to Myanmar next week to hold further talks on the subject with the concerned authorities.
On direct road link with Myanmar, he said they discussed the tri-nation road link between Bangladesh, Myanmar and China aimed at boosting trade and tourism.
As part of the initiative, Bangladesh and Myanmar will finalise an agreement on construction of 23-kilometre road on July 27 (Friday) when the Myanmar Construction Minister will be in Dhaka. The construction of 23-km road inside Myanmar will be financed by the Bangladesh government while the construction of another 110 kms to be taken up later.