Bangladesh and India have decided to hold the foreign ministers’ level talk at the end of September to push forward bilateral relations into a new era, despite pandemic.
The decision came following a telephone conversation between Bangladesh foreign minister Dr AK Abdul Momen and his Indian counterpart Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on Monday.
This would be the sixth of its kind meeting at the foreign ministers’ level titled ‘Bangladesh-India Joint Consultative Commission (JCC)’.
Due to a pandemic lockdown, they decided to hold the meeting virtually.
Jaishankar after the phone conversation tweeted: “Warm conversation with FM Dr. A.K. Abdul Momen of Bangladesh. Agreed to hold our Joint Consultative Commission very soon. Will continue to work closely to reach the ambitious goals set by our leaders”.
The Bangladesh foreign ministry in a statement said the meeting would be held at the end of this month.
Dr Momen told Bangladesh Post that they had a “very warm discussion” over the phone.
“Due to the Covid-19, we agreed to hold the meeting virtually,” he said.
“He (Jaishankar) will visit Bangladesh at the first opportunity after the pandemic”.
India was the first destination of Dr Momen after he took charge of the ministry last year in February. The last JCC also took place in Delhi then.
Earlier, Indian foreign secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla in a surprise visit to Dhaka on Aug 18-19 said that the JCC, that takes stock of the entire gamut of bilateral relations, would be held soon.
During the 5th JCC, four MoUs were signed to further strengthen the existing “multifaceted cooperation” between the two neighbouring countries.
The MoUs are on mid-career training of 1800 Bangladesh civil servants, cooperation between AYUSH and the Ministry of Health of Bangladesh in the field of medicinal plants, cooperation between Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and cooperation between Hiranandani Group and Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority to facilitate investments in the Indian Economic Zone in Mongla.
Bangladesh and India have set examples to the world during the pandemic.
When the whole world is grappling to fight off the virus by closing the border, the two South Asian neighbours launched new initiatives.
New avenues of trade and connectivity were also opened.
On Saturday, the two neighbours launched a new inland water route. Indian High Commissioner in Dhaka Riva Ganguly Das called it a “historic moment” as she joined Chief Minister of Tripura Biplab Kumar Deb to receive the first trial run vessel carrying cement from Daudkandi in Bangladesh to Sonamura port in Tripura.
The inauguration of the new riverine route followed the ‘Second Addendum on Protocol on Inland Water Transit and Trade’ between the countries in May this year amid Covid-19.
With that addendum, the number of Indo, Bangladesh Protocol (IBP) routes was increased to 10 from eight.
“We made sure that even during the Covid we could explore all possible avenues of increasing trade. The waterway is economical and climate friendly and during the Covid period health and hygiene can be maintained much more easily. Today is truly a historical occasion,” Riva Ganguly said.
The pandemic lockdown has slowed down the trade initially. But both countries set examples by introducing new ideas to continue the businesses.
Railway was one of those means. Indian Railways handed over a total of 103 freight trains to Bangladesh carrying essential commodities such as onions, ginger, chilies, maize, turmeric, rice seed, sugar, finished products, and raw materials for industries to Bangladesh Railways in June.
Though there are regular freight train operations between both the railways, for the first time the numbers of freight trains operated by both the Railways have crossed the 100 mark.
Both the Railways had come up with solutions to transport all the essential commodities across the border when the lockdown and transport restrictions were imposed by both the countries to arrest the spread of Covid-19.
Many importers are now using the rail route for transporting their goods, though usually they are not reliant upon the rail transportation services.
Upon seeing the success of the movement of goods by rail, Bangladesh Railways has permitted the introduction of the Parcel Train Service between India and Bangladesh. The carrying capacity of the parcel train is 238 metric tons.
India also handed over 10 railway locomotives to Bangladesh, reflecting a renewed focus on the “neighbourhood first” policy to bolster economic ties and connectivity within the region, during the pandemic.
The first transshipment of goods (iron and pulses) from Kolkata to India’s North-East took place through Bangladesh’s Chattogram port during this lockdown.
This showed that the “ongoing COVID pandemic has not slowed down the pace of our overall cooperation”, Jaishankar had said earlier.
“Our two countries continue to script a relationship of ‘Shonali Adhyaya’ (golden chapter), guided by the progressive vision of PM Narendra Modi and PM Sheikh Hasina,” he had said, adding that the two neighbours partnership would be “key to building a prosperous and peaceful South Asia”.
“This will be a befitting tribute to the vision of Bangabandhu in this historic Mujib Barsho”.
Both countries are jointly commemorating the birth centenary of Bangladesh's founding father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
India announced that they would release a commemorative stamp on Bangabandhu during this Mujib Barsho.
