Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has restored mutual trust between Dhaka and New Delhi and brought about a change in the mindset regarding bilateral ties, High Commissioner to India Syed Muazzem Ali said on Friday.
“There is now a greater recognition on both sides that the destinies of our two neighboring countries are inescapably intertwined and we must grow together,” he said here.
Syed Muazzem Ali said Bangladesh and India have strengthened security cooperation and are committed to eradicating terrorism. Bangladesh’s avowed policy is not to allow its soil for any terrorist activity against India or any other country. Bangladesh has received full cooperation from India too, he added.
Relations between Bangladesh and India have grown stronger and reached a newer height under the guidance of Prime Ministers Sheikh Hasina and Narendra Modi, Ali was quoted by a statement issued by the Bangladesh High Commission.
Syed Muazzem Ali was addressing the officers taking part in the 59th course at National Defence College in New Delhi.
The envoy spoke on “Framework of Bangladesh-India relations: Opportunities and Challenges”.
Besides participants from India, the 47-week course has 25 overseas officers from Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Australia, Bhutan, Brazil, Egypt, Indonesia, Japan, Kenya, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Nigeria, Oman, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, UAE, UK, USA and Vietnam.
In his speech, Syed Muazzem Ali said Bangladesh and India has focused on security, mutual trust, confidence building and promoting physical and people-to-people connectivity.
The bilateral relations are so cordial that the two countries have emerged as a role model for neighbourhood diplomacy, he said.
The envoy said Bangladesh and India have steadily developed bilateral defence engagements in recent years. The two countries signed five MoUs on defence cooperation during Sheikh Hasina’s 2017 visit to India. The cooperation covers fields of general cooperation, training exchange and procurement of equipment, defence financing, medical cooperation and knowledge sharing between the top defence institutes of both countries.
His speech was followed by a lively interaction with participants asking questions relating to bilateral, regional and international issues.
