Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s state visit to New Delhi has reflected again the depth of deep friendship between Bangladesh and India. Bangladesh’s relations with India are ‘written with blood’ and it has reached new heights under the dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Sheikh Hasina went to India on Friday, becoming the first foreign leader to make a visit to India after Narendra Modi became prime minister for the third straight term. In a joint statement before the media after a tete-e-tete and bilateral meeting with her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi followed by the signing of several instruments at the Hyderabad House in New Delhi, Sheikh Hasina says Dhaka and New Delhi agreed on a shared vision for digital and green partnership to ensure a sustainable future for both the nations.
In his statement Narendra Modi says India will send a technical team to Bangladesh soon for a mega project to conserve and manage the Teesta river and move ahead to start negotiations on a comprehensive trade pact and boosting defence ties.
These are the major outcomes of the talks between Narendra Modi and Sheikh Hasina. The decision to send an Indian technical team to hold talks on the conservation of the Teesta river appears to be significant as China was keenly eyeing the estimated $1 billion project, notwithstanding reservations by New Delhi.
In reflection of the growing intensity in their ties, India and Bangladesh also firmed up a ‘futuristic vision’ to further facilitate transformative cooperation in their engagement. Separately, the two sides signed 10 agreements on bolstering ties in a range of critical areas such as digital domain, maritime sphere, blue economy, railways, space, green technology, health and medicine.
Bangladesh’s relations with India
is ‘written with blood’ and it has reached new
heights under the dynamic
leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina
A major focus of the talks between the two leaders was on exploring ways to enhance India-Bangladesh cooperation in digital and energy connectivity even as both sides resolved to work towards peaceful management of borders between the two countries. Being truly good neighbours, Bangladesh and India are consolidating traditional areas of cooperation.
The two nations believe the Dhaka-Delhi ties are ‘rock solid’ based on shared values, principles and confidence, touching almost every sphere of our lives. Very few countries in the world share such close fraternal ties.
Therefore, Dhaka-Delhi partnership today becomes a role model of good neighbourly relations for other countries in the region. It is good to note that after Sheikh Hasina’s successful visit to New Delhi in the past, a lot of visible progress has been achieved in various areas of bilateral interests. We believe that this fruitful and open discussion between the two prime ministers in a very cordial atmosphere will speed up settlement of the outstanding issues and benefit the people of both the countries. Both the premiers agreed to accelerate their ongoing efforts to enhance bilateral and regional connectivity with India including rail and road connectivity.
Bilateral relations between two countries stand out a role model for neighbourhood diplomacy. The Bangladesh-India relationship has seen ‘transformative changes’, reaching new heights with significant achievements through cooperation and collaboration.
Over the past few years, India and Bangladesh scripted a ‘golden’ chapter in partnership under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her counterpart Narendra Modi.
We hope Bangladesh and India will be able to further lift their relations to new heights in the coming days. So, Bangladesh and India will do their best in this regard. Both sides will work to strengthen bilateral cooperation in various fields. We have many difficulties in our journey towards progress but we will surely overcome those through our collaborative efforts.
