"We are ready to negotiate for allowing the pipeline if Myanmar sells gas and India agrees to buy…We'll obtain best possible advantage through negotiations-we'll get revenue," Foreign Affairs Adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury told reporters after return from Myanmar.

Iftekhar said the tri-nation pipeline issue came up during his meetings with Myanmar leaders, including Acting Prime Minister Lt Gen Thein Sein, in the Myanmar capital.

According to the previous estimate, Bangladesh was to receive $ 100 million to $ 120 million as transmission charge or "wheeling charge" annually for the 950-km pipeline.

However, the immediate past BNP-led alliance government put three conditions to allow the gas pipeline.

The conditions: Bangladesh's passage to export its products to Nepal and Bhutan through India, reduction of Dhaka's trade deficit with New Delhi and allowing the import of electricity from Nepal and Bhutan crossing over the Indian territory.

However, there had not been any fruitful negotiations between India and Bangladesh on the tri-nation pipeline. Consequently, Myanmar signed agreement with China to sell its gas.

Recently, the issue of tri-nation gas pipeline again came up as a reference at the Delhi meeting on regional cooperation in energy sector.

India has also planned energy import from central Asia, passing through a long pipeline that proves expensive.

LEASE OF MYANMAR LAND
Bangladesh has sought some unused lands from Myanmar on lease for agricultural farming. The leasehold price has been proposed at $8 to $25 per acre, reports UNB.

The proposal was made during the official talks between Foreign Affairs Adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury and his Myanmar counterpart Nyan Win in Yangon.

"It is still at a preliminary stage," the adviser told reporters at the foreign ministry yesterday after his return from Yangon where the two neighbouring countries signed a deal for building a cross-border road.

Briefing on the outcome of the meeting, the adviser said border trade, delimitation of maritime boundary with Myanmar and repatriation of the Rohingya refugees figured prominently during the meeting.

Both sides have agreed to set up a joint commission at the foreign minister level to discuss all these bilateral issues between the two close neighbours, he said.

About the direct road link between Bangladesh and Myanmar, the adviser said the two sides signed a draft agreement to construct a 25-km road from Guandhum in Cox's Bazar to Baulibazar in Myanmar with the funding from Bangladesh government.

He said a formal agreement will be signed after completing some procedural matters by the two governments.

Communications Secretary Mahbubur Rahman, who initialed the draft agreement, told the reporters that it would take another year to start the construction while the road would be completed in three years at an estimated cost of $ 20.20 million.

The foreign adviser said the proposed road will also connect Bangladesh with Thailand and China through Myanmar.