Bangladesh has sought India’s cooperation in resolving the outstanding issues, especially early completion of water sharing agreement of the common rivers including Teesta.
Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen raised this during his meeting with Indian Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla in New Delhi on Thursday.
Masud enumerated that India is the closest and most important neighbour of Bangladesh and assured his Indian counterpart that the government of Bangladesh is committed to sustaining the momentum of having a friendly relation with India which is based on mutual trust and respect.
He urged his Indian counterpart to extend necessary support to facilitate the early, safe, secure and sustainable repatriation of Rohingyas to their homeland in Myanmar.
Foreign secretary Shringla thanked his counterpart Masud for visiting him in New Delhi and emphasized on the regular interactions at the Foreign Secretary level.
He reiterated India’s commitment in working together to support each other in various platforms including the United Nations.
Shringla noted that Bangladesh Mission in Chennai would further facilitate the relations between the two countries especially with the southern states of India.
He also emphasized on the joint celebration of events of bilateral significance as the celebrations of Moitri Dibosh (Friendship Day) in select cities across the globe could successfully project the historic relations between the two countries.
Shringla reiterated the commitment of the Government of India in fast tracking of various projects undertaken under the Indian Line of Credit in Bangladesh.
Foreign Secretary Masud requested the Indian Foreign Secretary to extend his support in completing Shadhinota Sharak and hand over the historic building at 8 Theatre Road, which served as the headquarters of the first Bangladesh Government in 1971, as Bangladesh is celebrating the Golden Jubilee of her independence.
Both the foreign secretaries emphasized on going back to normalcy as COVID situation improved satisfactorily.
Dhaka seeks Delhi’s cooperation to resolve pending issues
They discussed commencing of bus and rail services between different cities which were suspended due to COVID – 19 pandemic.
They also discussed regional cooperation and contemporary global issues.
They expressed satisfaction on the excellent bilateral relations that exist between the two countries.
The officials underscored the need to work together to further deepen the multifaceted relations between the two countries encompassing all major fields especially economic and commercial, border management, counter-terrorism, water sharing, connectivity and people-to-people contact.
They discussed the possibilities of future engagements as well as important high-level visits in the upcoming months.
They noted that 2021 was a landmark year as both the countries were celebrating the 50th year of establishment of diplomatic relationship and witnessed the landmark visits of the President and the Prime Minister of India to Bangladesh which had immensely contributed in consolidating the bilateral relationship between the two countries.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Foreign Secretary of Bangladesh visited the newly opened Bangladesh Deputy High Commission in Chennai.
During his visit, he was briefed by the Deputy High Commissioner about the various activities and initiatives taken to make the Mission fully functional.
The Foreign Secretary exchanged his views with Mission’s officials and urged them to work sincerely to promote relations of Bangladesh with all the southern states of India and also extend necessary consular assistance for thousands of Bangladeshis visiting every year to these cities for medical treatments.
High Commissioner of Bangladesh to India Muhammad Imran, Secretary (East) Ambassador Mashfee Binte Shams and Director General (South Asia) Rokebul Haque were among the delegation of the foreign secretary during the visit.
Source: United News of Bangladesh