Bangladesh parliament Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury met India’s new Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday and found him ‘positive’ on solving outstanding bilateral issues like sharing Teesta water and implementing the Land Boundary Agreement.
The discussions between the two went on for nearly half an hour with India’s new External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj present and occasionally participating.
The meeting was described as ‘courtesy call’ but bilateral issues were discussed.
Shirin Sharmin was the last on the list of Modi’s bilaterals — perhaps because she was the only one who was not head of government and was only representing her prime minister.
“We discussed the whole range of bilateral issues,” Shirin Sharmin said after the meeting. “He (Modi) appeared positive.”
“Mr Modi assured me of very active consideration of all outstanding bilateral issues like Teesta water- sharing and the Land Boundary Agreement. He is keen to sort them out,” Shirin told journalists after the meeting.
Shirin handed over a letter from Sheikh Hasina, who is away in Tokyo on a pre-scheduled visit, to the Indian prime minister, which promises to ‘work together to take bilateral relations to a new high’.
The letter also invites Narendra Modi to visit Dhaka at the earliest possible.
Later, Indian Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh told a media briefing that Modi also invited Hasina through Shirin Sharmin to visit Delhi as early as possible.
Singh said Modi is keen to carry forward the ‘the entire gamut of bilateral relations marked by much cooperation’ in areas from security to trade and from power to connectivity.
“The outstanding issues will be sorted out,” she quoted the Prime Minister as saying. “We have a shared history.”
Modi also listed Bangladesh’s success in areas like micro-finance and poverty alleviation and said South Asian nations should adopt each other’s best practices, said Singh.
Other heads of governments of SAARC countries and Mauritius, who had come to Delhi to attend the swearing-in ceremony of the new Indian cabinet, also met Modi for bilateral discussions.
That included one with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who said he had an “excellent” meeting with Modi.
“I had an excellent meeting”, Sharif told CNN-IBN television. “We are positive. (I look) forward to a positive outcome.”
Sharif also wished the Modi government “all the best”.
Bangladesh diplomats in the Indian capital said the Speaker stressed on the importance of the Teesta water-sharing treaty that Modi’s predecessor Manmohan Singh wanted to sign but could not because of stiff opposition from West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
She also brought the Land Boundary Agreement already signed between the two countries but which is yet to be formalised.
Indian Ministry of External Affairs sources say that will not be easy for Modi either.
But BJP sources say the new prime minister appears keen to go ahead, by possibly placating Banerjee with a special financial package to revive her state’s cash-strapped economy and by getting Sikkim state government to release enough waters on the Teesta’s upper reaches for Bengal and Bangladesh.
India is quite keen to take forward the regional power grid to allow Bangladesh draw power from Indian states and also buy power from Nepal and Bhutan through transmission lines in India.
“That solves Bangladesh’s power needs and cuts down its dependence on rental power plants which produce expensive power,” said a senior MEA official.
Both India and Bangladesh are keen to develop all round connectivity and Modi is very keen on that.
Source: Bd news24