Bangladesh News

Foreign Minister Dipu Moni reached New Delhi yesterday on a four-day visit to discuss the entire spectrum of bilateral ties with the top leaders of the country, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Dipu Moni, accompanied by Foreign Secretary Mijarul Quayes, kicks off her engagements today by leading Bangladesh delegation at talks at the Hyderabad House where the Indian team would be headed by External Affairs Minister SM Krishna.

Trade, investment, sharing waters of common rivers, including the Teesta, Tipaimukh dam, border demarcation, connectivity and security issues are expected to figure prominently during the Dipu-Krishna talks.

The talks would be followed by a joint media interaction by Dipu Moni and Krishna after which she will meet Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee at his North Block office and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at his official residence on Race Course Road.

The Bangladesh foreign minister is likely to meet some other senior Indian ministers during the visit, diplomatic sources said.

The delegation-level talks between India and Bangladesh today, apart from reviewing the entire gamut of bilateral issues, could finalise some agreements that would be signed during the visit of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to India possibly in October, the sources said.

The last foreign minister-level meeting was held in Dhaka on February 9 this year between Dipu Moni and Pranab Mukherjee.

Dipu Moni was received yesterday at the Indira Gandhi International Airport by senior officials of Indian external affairs ministry and Bangladesh High Commissioner Ahmad Tariq Karim among others.

Sources said Bangladesh is likely to seek greater access to Indian market for its exports through easing of para- and non-tariff barriers in a bid to narrow the trade imbalance.

Security is going to be high on the agenda of Moni’s meeting with Indian leaders in New Delhi, according to sources. The Indian side is likely to press for ULFA leader Anup Chetia whose prison term in Bangladesh has ended.

Officials in New Delhi said handing over Chetia to India could serve as a confidence-building measure in security cooperation between the two countries.

What has prompted India to look positively at the Hasina government in Dhaka is that the latter has taken a slew of measures against organised crime and terror groups since coming to power in January this year, the officials said.

Another development, which has enthused New Delhi about security cooperation, is the remarks by Bangladesh high commissioner to India while presenting his credentials here last month. He said Bangladesh and India both faced the scourge of terrorism and could both benefit through meaningful cooperation in security-related issues.

The issue of sharing of waters of the common rivers has not seen progress as the Indo-Bangla Joint Rivers Commission (JRC) meeting has been stalled for four years.

The issue of the proposed hydropower project at Tipaimukh on Borak river in north eastern Indian state of Manipur had threatened to become a major irritant in ties between Dhaka and Delhi. But it appears to have been kept under control as India assured Bangladesh that nothing would be done to harm Bangladesh’s interests.

Bangladesh’s concern over Tipaimukh was flagged by Dipu Moni herself when she had stopped in New Delhi briefly and met Krishna and Mukherjee on her way to Colombo a few months back. This was followed by the visit of a delegation of Bangladeshi parliamentarians and experts to Delhi and interaction with Indian Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and officials of external affairs, power and water resources ministries.

Meanwhile, the Bangladesh foreign secretary had informal talks yesterday with senior officials of different ministries of Indian government in the run up of today’s talk.