PM emphasizes stronger bilateral ties between BD and India

 
Indian External Affairs Minister Dr. S Jaishankar on Thursday called on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who underlined the importance of connectivity between the two neighbours and offered her country's main seaport - Chittagong Port - to India's landlocked northeastern states like Assam and Tripura.

Jaishankar, who arrived here on Thursday on a brief official visit, handed over an invitation to Sheikh Hasina on her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi's behalf to visit New Delhi. During the meeting, Prime Minister Hasina said that the two countries have to increase the connectivity further.

She told Jaishankar that the enhanced connectivity was needed for mutual benefits while it would particularly benefit India's northeastern region in using Bangladesh's southeastern Chittagong port.

"If the connectivity is increased, the Indian northeastern states -like Assam and Tripura- can have access to the seaport in Chattogram," she said. Sheikh Hasina stated that initiatives were taken to resume cross-border routes between Bangladesh and India which were stopped during the 1965 India-Pakistan war, when Bangladesh was eastern wing of Pakistan. Bangladesh Foreign Ministry said that the two ministers "discussed the bilateral issues between Bangladesh and India. They expressed satisfaction about the ongoing Bangladesh-India cooperation, vowed to further strengthen the bilateral ties, stressed on regional stability for socio-economic development as a whole."

Dr. S. Jaishankar said that during the talks with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina he extended Prime Minister Modi's invitation to her to visit India at the time of her convenience.

During the meeting, they expressed delight at the current state of the existing bilateral relations between the countries.

Defence sector cooperation, water sharing of Kushiara and Feni rivers, current Covid -19 situation and impacts of Russia-Ukraine war on the global economy came up prominently in the discussion.

Jaishankar, who arrived here on a brief official visit, was received at the Bangladesh Air Force Base Bangabandhu by Foreign Minister Dr. AK Abdul Momen.

His visit to Bangladesh is aimed at preparing the grounds for Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's visit to India.

The two countries are expected to fix the date of the 7th Bangladesh-India Joint Consultative Commission (JCC) meeting, which is scheduled to take place in New Delhi. Momen also hosted an Iftar party followed by a dinner in Jaishankar's honor at the Foreign Service Academy.

Jaishankar would leave Dhaka for Bhutan on Friday morning. His last visit to Bangladesh was in March last year.

In New Delhi, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement that the visit of the external affairs minister to Bangladesh may be seen in the context of frequent bilateral high-level visits and exchanges particularly as both sides commemorate 50 years of the establishment of diplomatic ties. Sheikh Hasina last visited New Delhi in 2019 to attend the Indian Economic Summit of the World Economic Forum (WEF) when she also had bilateral talks with her Indian counterpart.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on the other hand, visited Bangladesh on March 26-27 last year at Hasina's invitation to join golden jubilee celebration of Bangladesh's independence, birth centenary of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the 50th years of establishment of Bangladesh-India diplomatic relations.

President Ram Nath Kovind also paid a state visit to Dhaka from December 15-17 last year at the invitation of his Bangladesh counterpart President Abdul Hamid to attend the 50th victory day celebration of Bangladesh.