COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA
SPEECH BY
The Rt Hon. W. McMAHON, M. P.
Prime Minister
ON
LONG TERM AID TO BANGLA DESH
Ministerial Statement
[ From the ' Parliamentary Debates', 29 February 1972]
Mr McMAHON ( Lowe-Prime Minister)-
by leave-Honourable members will
recall that on 31st January the Australian
Government announced formal recognition
of the Government of Sheikh Mujibur
Rahman as the Government of the new
state of Bangla Desh. In announcing recognition,
the Minister for Foreign Affairs
( Mr N. H. Bowen) said that, as a nation
of 75 million people bordering the Indian
Ocean, Bangla Desh was likely to play an
increasingly important role in the affairs of
South and South East Asia. He also said
we looked forward to co-operating with
Bangla Desh in various regional organisations,
including the Colombo Plan and the
Economic Commission for Asia and the
Far East. In taking this action, Australia
was among the first of the Western and
Commonwealth nations to accord recognition,
and, I think we can claim, gave the
lead to many of our neighbours. We have
since followed up this initiative with positive
steps in the field of aid to Bangla
Desh. On 16th February, less than 3 weeks
after we had recognised the new nation,
my colleague, the Minister for Foreign
Affairs, announced the imminent departure
of the first sea-cargo of emergency relief
aid to be shipped direct to Bangla Desh.
During the same weekend, the first trainee
under the Colombo Plan to ' be nominated
by Bangia Desh arrived in Australia. He
will be followed by many others, as our
long term plans to assist Bangla Desh with
technical training come to fruition. At the time the announcement of the
direct cargo of relief aid was made, the
Minister said that the Government had the
long-term needs of Bangla Desh under
active consideration. Bangla Desh is one of
the most overpopulated and impoverished
regions in the world. Its natural resources
are few, its secondary industry barely
developed and much of what had been
established was destroyed during the fighting
there. International aid will be required
on a large scale, not only to provide
immediate relief and repair the damage
caused during the war, but also to help in
building up this young nation as a viable
economic unit. We have also borne in
mind the words of the Bangla Desh Minister
for Rehabilitation, who said recently in
welcoming Australian emergency relief aid:
' He gives twice who gives quickly.'
So the Government has been looking to
what aid Australia can best provide, to
accord with . the future long-term needs of
Bangla Desh. We have been looking ahead
to the next stage, and to longer-term aid
programmes. For the next financial year,
beginning in just a few months, Australia
will provide aid for Bangla Desh totalling
$ 4m. This will be in addition to the $ 2m
of aid already in the pipeline. This new
amount of S4m will be for special rehabilitation
assistance, for -regular aid, including
projects and experts, training, and for food
aid. It is a special amount which we shall
make available to assist Bangla Desh in
coping with the extraordinary problems
which will confront it in its early stages of
nationhood. We have been having continuous discussions
through our mission in Dacca with
the Government of Bangla Desh. Details
of the precise forms in which we intend to
provide this longer-term aid are being
worked out on the basis of the planning
priorities of the Bangla Desh Government.
These will be announced at appropriate
times by my colleague, the Minister for
Foreign Affairs. I would, however, like to
make it clear to the House that the plans
for new aid to Bangla Desh which I have
just announced are the first stage of Australia's
long-term assistance. The ways and
means in which this programme is to be
and will be developed shall be kept under
regular review. Earlier I said that Australia had taken a further initiative. It is, I point
out to the House, that, apart from India,
which is Bangla Desh's closest neighbour,
Australia is one of the first of those
nations which have recognised Bangla
Desh to come forward with a commitment
of longer-term aid, other than emergency
relief. I believe that, as we gave the lead
to many nations in recognising Bangla
Desh, this action, of announcing plans for
longer-term aid may also give a lead to
other nations to act similarly. For it is
only with the concerted help of friendly
countries that Bangla Desh will be enabled
to emerge from the problems of her birth
in war. Our aim is to help Bangla Desh to
take her place as a stable and developing
economy which will make a constructive
contribution to the South Asian region.
22384/ 71W. G. MUMaY. Government Printer. Canberra