E-Paper
Development projects to top agenda for India-Bangladesh summit on Dec 17
The two prime ministers will hold “comprehensive discussions on the entire spectrum of the bilateral relationship, including further strengthening cooperation in the post-Covid era”, the external affairs ministry said on Monday.
Connectivity and cross-border development projects are expected to top the agenda for a virtual summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina on December 17.
The meeting will also focus on giving impetus to bilateral relations after they were affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and Bangladesh’s misgivings about the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), people familiar with developments said on condition of anonymity.
The two prime ministers will hold “comprehensive discussions on the entire spectrum of the bilateral relationship, including further strengthening cooperation in the post-Covid era”, the external affairs ministry said on Monday.
As first reported by HT last month, the two sides are expected to sign four memorandums of understanding (MoUs) during the virtual summit.
The Chilahati-Haldibari rail link, which was closed during the 1965 war with Pakistan, will be revived during the summit and some more projects will be inaugurated by the two leaders, Bangladesh foreign minister AK Abdul Momen told reporters in Dhaka on Sunday. This will be the fifth rail link between the two countries.
Momen said the “Swadhinata Sarak”, a road linking India with Mujibnagar, the town in Bangladesh’s Meherpur district where the provisional government was formed in 1971, will be opened on March 26 next year to mark 50 years of the country’s independence and to boost people-to-people ties.
PM Modi, who had to call off a visit to Bangladesh this year due to the pandemic, is expected to attend the independence day celebrations next year.
Momen said the Bangladesh side will raise all issues, including sharing of river waters, at the upcoming summit. Describing India as a “time-tested friend of Bangladesh”, Momen said it was necessary to acknowledge former Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi’s contributions to the country’s independence.
The Bangladesh side is expected to raise the issue of sharing the waters of the Teesta river. The two sides completed negotiations on a water-sharing deal on the Teesta in 2011, but the agreement has been held up since then due to opposition from West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
Ahead of the virtual summit, Indian envoy Vikram Doraiswami met Hasina on December 10 and informed her of the Indian prime minister’s desire to take forward ties. A planned visit to New Delhi on December 8 by Bangladesh foreign secretary Masud Bin Momen couldn’t go ahead as he tested positive for Covid-19.
With China stepping up development aid for Bangladesh, New Delhi has worked to remove irritants in ties with Dhaka and sped up work on connectivity and transit projects. In July, India provided 10 railway locomotives to Bangladesh, days after the first container train made its way to the Bangladeshi side and the first shipment of goods was sent from Kolkata to Tripura via Chattogram port.
The ground-breaking ceremony for the 130-km India-Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline, which will supply fuel from Numaligarh Refinery in Assam to a depot at Dinajpur in Bangladesh, was held on December 4.
