India on Thursday disbursed its 3rd tranche of US$ 50 million grant to Bangladesh as part of its earlier commitment of providing a total of $ 200 million grant out of its US$ one billion Indian Line of Credit to Bangladesh.
Indian High Commissioner in Dhaka Pankaj Saran handed over the 3rd trance cheque of US$50 million to Finance Minister AMA Muhith when he met him at the latter’s secretariat office.
With the latest disbursement, India has provided US$ 150 million grant to Bangladesh.
India last year committed the grant from its One billion US dollar Line of Credit as per an agreement signed earlier for implementing Bangladesh’s priority projects.
Talking to reporters after the meeting, Indian High Commissioner Pankaj Saran said, “We’ve now completed the disbursement to Bangladesh government of $ 150 million grant as part of the total committed $ 200 million grant.”
“I of course briefed the minister about the present state of Indian Line of Credit, which now has reduced to $ 800 million and also discussed with him (Muhith) the latest investors show done in India by the Board of Investment of Bangladesh,” he added.
Asked whether an Indian company is going to be partner of a Bangladeshi company in setting up a port in the country, Pankaj Saran said the issue did not come up for discussion. “So far, there’s no decision yet, it’s only an offer,“ he added.
He said the Bangladesh government would choose the projects for using this $ 200 million grants from India. He also mentioned that AMA Muhith has already cleared in his budget speech that the amount would be used for implementing the Padma Bridge project.
Replying to another question, the Indian High Commissioner said there was no discussion on any political issue in the meeting. “This was basically a meeting to discuss the whole trade and investment and economic part of relations between the two countries. So, I didn’t discuss any political issue.”
