Bangladesh and India will be able to do ‘great things’ if their big markets could be tapped together, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said.
At a meeting with her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Wednesday, she emphasised on strengthening the trade relations.
The two met at Modi’s office after attending the funeral of Suvra Mukherjee, the wife of Indian President Pranab Mukherjee, said Hasina’s Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim.
Hasina arrived in Delhi in the morning to pay her last respects to the late First Lady of India, whose roots were in Bangladesh where she spent her childhood in a village near Narhail.
She met Pranab at the Rashtrapati Bhaban (presidential palace) first and then went to his son Avijit Mukherjee’s house to pay tributes to Suvra.
Hasina laid floral wreaths at Suvra’s coffin and later attended the funeral held at the Lodi Road crematorium.
From there, the prime minister went to meet Modi at his official residence at Race Course.
After the meeting, Ihsanul Karim told reporters both leaders were pleased with the progress in implementing the Bangladesh-India-Bhutan-Nepal (BIBN) Motor Vehicle Agreement which was signed in June.
He said Hasina welcomed Modi’s proposal to hold a joint exercise on combating natural disasters with other South Asian countries.
Both leaders also expressed satisfaction at the smooth implementation of the Land Boundary Agreement (LBA), he added.
Karim quoted Modi as saying, “A political decision can be taken, but its implementation is very difficult.”
The Indian prime minister said ‘implementation of the agreement without any trouble’ would be ‘a unique example’ for the world.
Recalling his Dhaka visit in June, Modi said he was impressed by the Bangabandhu Memorial Museum and offered help for its digitalisation and modernisation.
He also wished to send down experts, if necessary, Karim said.
Hasina said she had relations with Suvra Mukherjee for a long time.
The ties grew when she was living in India after the assassination of her father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and most of her family members in August 1975.
During the meeting, Modi said he would meet her niece Tulip Siddiq, daughter of Sheikh Rehana, who was elected to the British parliament in May.
Rehana, Hasina’s daughter Saima Wazed Hossain Putul, Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali, PM’s Principal Secretary Md Abul Kalam Azad and Bangladesh High Commissioner to India Syed Moazzem Ali attended the meeting.
National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar accompanied the Indian prime minister.
Hasina flew out of Delhi around 3:35pm local time.
Source: Bd news24
