Foreign Minister Dr. AK Abdul Momen and his Indian counterpart Dr. S Jaishankar on Thursday “comprehensively” discussed the bilateral issues between the neighbours and pledged to strengthen the relations further.
Dr. Jaishankar conveyed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s invitation to his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina to visit India at a convenient time as both countries were working on resuming all the activities like pre-Covid time.
“We resolved several big and critical problems with India. Some minor issues which remain pending will also be resolved through dialogue as well,” Dr Momen said at a joint briefing after the meeting at the Foreign Service Academy in Dhaka.
He arrived on Thursday afternoon on a short visit with a high-level delegation including Foreign Secretary-designate Vinay Mohan Kwatra. Dr. Jaishankar called on the Prime Minister at Ganabhaban.
He said his visit was aimed at continuing the progress in deepening the engagements between the countries.
“As neighbours, the regularity and the informality and cordiality of our interaction is a very good reflection of trust and confidence. Our leaders have remained in touch,” he said.
Despite Covid-19 pandemic, 2021 was a historic year in Bangladesh and India relations.
It was for the first time, the President and the Prime Minister of India visited Bangladesh in a single year and both the counties celebrated the 50th years of diplomatic ties through the joint celebration of a number of landmark events across the world.
During Thursday's meeting, the foreign ministry said, both the Foreign Ministers expressed satisfaction with the ongoing cooperation between the countries and discussed the possible dates of the visit of the Prime Minister to India to further cement the ties.
They underscored the necessity of holding the next round of Joint Consultation Commission (JCC) meeting at the earliest convenience of both sides. Both the Foreign Ministers stressed on following up the decisions taken at the highest level for their effective implementation for mutual benefit.
Dr. Momen reiterated that India is the most important neighbour for Bangladesh, noting that over the last few years, both the countries have achieved remarkable progress in a number of areas.
The Foreign Minister recalled that the two countries had resolved many of the outstanding issues in the spirit of friendship and cooperation and expressed hope that all outstanding issues including the early signing of the Teesta Water Sharing Treaty may be concluded at an early date.
He stressed on robust trade and commerce between the two countries.
He also sought the support of India for the speedy repatriation of the forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals to their country of origin.
The Foreign Minister expressed satisfaction on the rise of trade volume between the two countries and announcement of 200 scholarships by the government of Bangladesh for the family members of war veterans of India who fought for Bangladesh in 1971.
The Indian External Affairs Minister stressed that Bangladesh features as the most important country in the Indian Foreign Policy objectives of 'Neighbour First Policy’.
He stated Bangladesh and India have been maintaining an excellent relationship even during the pandemic when the whole world was at a standstill.
Dr. Jaishankar appreciated Bangladesh for the transformative socio-economic development under the dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
He emphasised on promoting trade, commerce and connectivity especially in the light of supply chain disruption resulting from covid-19 restrictions and recent conflict in Ukraine.
He assured of India's cooperation in resolving some of the concerns of Bangladesh including the early repatriation of forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals to their country of origin.
He also stressed on early and timely completion of some of the projects funded by India and on the need of sub-regional cooperation in all matters, particularly in the energy sector.
During the joint briefing, the Indian external affairs minister said it was a matter of satisfaction that trade, disbursement of loans on bilateral projects, travel services and investment are at new heights and they have recovered the momentum which was lost during the Covid.
“Covid itself taught us how important it was to have regional supply chains, value chains so that whether it is essential commodity, oxygen, medicines, food we could count on each other at the time of difficulty,” he said.
Replying to a question, he said, talks about signing the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) were underway at the official level.
India and Bangladesh started the process of negotiations for CEPA to deepen trade and economic ties recently when a high-level team from Bangladesh visited India.
They discussed the recommendations made by a Joint Study Group (JSG) for examining the feasibility of the CEPA.
The Indian External Affairs minister also said that they are looking forward to having stronger sub-regional cooperation and connectivity.
Hydro-carbon domain in the energy sector offers opportunities of mutually beneficial cooperation between the countries in the region, he said as India is a large producer and consumer of energy.
“We are glad to work with our neighbours in this regard including in the BBIN framework,” he said, adding that India would continue to take the lead to structure progressive partnership of production, transmission and trade in this area in the region.
The External Affairs Minister will leave Dhaka for Paro, Bhutan on Friday morning.
