Bangladesh and India have agreed to work closely together “to further deepen and strengthen cooperation” in the areas of common rivers and water resources management, IT and cyber-security, renewable energy, agriculture and food security, sustainable trade, climate change and disaster management.
This was discussed at the seventh round of the India-Bangladesh Joint Consultative Commission (JCC) held in New Delhi on Sunday. Foreign Minister Dr. A.K. Abdul Momen, and his Indian counterpart Dr. S. Jaishankar co-chaired the meeting.
The Ministers recalled the warmth shared by both sides, borne out of the shared sacrifices of the 1971 Liberation War of Bangladesh, that have forged close historical and friendly relations that transcend the traditional notion of a strategic partnership, said a joint statement after the meeting.
The Ministers welcomed the further strengthening of bilateral ties with the unprecedented visits by both the President and the Prime Minister of India to Bangladesh in 2021 to jointly commemorate three epochal events - the birth centenary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman; the fiftieth anniversary of the independence of Bangladesh and the golden anniversary of India-Bangladesh diplomatic ties.
A role model for bilateral and regional cooperation, the Ministers appreciated that the trust and mutual respect shared between the two countries has only strengthened in the last decade.
A recent testimony of this was the launch of the trailer of ‘Mujib – making of a nation’, the jointly produced biopic on Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2022.
Noting that this was the first in-person JCC meeting convened since the onset of Covid-19 pandemic, with the previous edition held virtually in 2020, the two Ministers appreciated the efforts undertaken by both countries to jointly fight Covid-19.
The Ministers comprehensively reviewed all areas of ongoing cooperation, including the implementation of decisions taken during the visits of President Ram Nath Kovind in December 2021 and of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in March 2021, Virtual Summit between the Prime Ministers of the two countries in December 2020, as well as the last virtual meeting of JCC in September 2020.
The Ministers expressed satisfaction that despite challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, both countries have worked closer than ever before in every sector, from security and border management to mutually beneficial trade and investment flows, as well as enhanced bilateral and sub-regional multimodal connectivity, greater power and energy cooperation, developmental assistance and capacity building exchanges, cultural and closer people-to-people ties.
Both Ministers appreciated that in addition to the high-level visits, there had been intensive engagements through various bilateral mechanisms and agreed to further enhance partnership-building efforts with renewed vigour and regularity.
In this regard, both Ministers tasked their officials to accelerate cooperation, with further attention paid to addressing issues and finding durable solutions for the mutual benefit of both the peoples.
Both sides reiterated the importance of safe, speedy and sustainable return of the forcibly displaced persons from the Rakhine State to Myanmar, currently being sheltered by Bangladesh.
Acknowledging the excellent bilateral ties shared between the two countries, both Ministers reiterated the importance of closer cooperation to expeditiously implement the Leaders’ decisions and to further deepen and strengthen mutual engagement across all sectors of bilateral cooperation.
During his visit in New Delhi, Foreign Minister Momen also paid a courtesy call on Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu.
It was agreed that the 8th round of India-Bangladesh JCC will be held in Bangladesh in 2023.
