‘Tessta, LBA, polls to dominate agenda’
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Indian counterpart Dr Manmohan Singh will meet on the sidelines of the 68th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York on September 28.
Major pending issues — the ratification of the Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) and Teesta water sharing deal and coming election in Bangladesh — will be high on agenda of the meeting, an official at the Foreign Ministry said on Thursday night.
Earlier in the day, Foreign Minister Dr Dipu Moni told reporters at a press conference that no meeting on the sidelines with the US administration and the Indian Prime Minister has been set yet.
Later, a senior assistant secretary of the ministry confirmed the meeting between Sheikh Hasina and Singh. “The meeting with the Indian Prime Minister is confirmed. It’ll be held on September 28,” the official said.
The Prime Minister is scheduled to leave for New York on September 22 and return home on September 30.
The Congress-led Indian government has failed to introduce a constitutional amendment bill over LBA at Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian parliament, during the just-concluded monsoon session.
Earlier, repeated attempts failed to introduce the bill due to the stiff opposition of the Indian opposition parties.
During a meeting with President Abdul Hamid at Bangabhaban on Tuesday, Indian Minority Affairs Minister K Rahman Khan expressed the hope that the LBA would be ratified during the upcoming winter session of parliament, which usually begins in the third week of November.
The Teesta water sharing agreement was scheduled to be signed during Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s Bangladesh visit in 2011, but it could not be inked due to the last-minute objection raised by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Since then, there appears to be virtually no progress on this agreement.
Source: UNB Connect
