The Indian high commissioner to Bangladesh, Pranay Verma, on Sunday said that his country would continue to seek a stable, positive and constructive relationship with Bangladesh with the people of both countries being the main stakeholders.
He described the relations between the two countries as ‘people-centric’ based on mutual trust and respect.
‘India will continue to seek a stable, positive and constructive relationship with Bangladesh in which people of both countries are the main stakeholders,’ said the envoy while speaking on India-Bangladesh relations during the Bay of Bengal Conversation at a hotel in Dhaka.
Highlighting the importance of the relations between the two neighbouring countries, Pranay expressed India’s commitment to working together with the government and people of Bangladesh to fulfill shared aspirations for peace, security and development, and to ensure that the partnership continued to bring benefit to the common people on both sides.
He stressed that India took a long-term view of its relations with Bangladesh and believed that the peace, security, progress and prosperity of the two countries were interlinked.
The high commissioner underlined the continued progress in trade, transport and energy connectivity and people-to-people engagements as a reflection of multifaceted ties, in which the reality of interdependence and mutual benefit would keep reasserting itself, ‘regardless of political changes’.
He mentioned the launch of 40 MW power transmission from Nepal to Bangladesh through the Indian grid, and the augmentation of infrastructure at the Petrapole-Benapole Integrated Check Post, both within this month itself, as examples of continued progress in bilateral exchanges.
He also described India-Bangladesh cooperation as an anchor for regional integration envisaged under architectures such as BIMSTEC.
Pranay underlined the need for constructive and pragmatic engagement, admitting the fact that there were irritants among the two nations.
The three-day geopolitical conference organised by the Centre for Governance Studies, an independent think tank based in Dhaka, will conclude today.
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