Bangladesh has proposed Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit Tungipara during his upcoming visit to Dhaka on March 26 to celebrate the 50 years of the country’s independence.
If it happens, Modi would be the first Indian Prime Minister to pay homage at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's mausoleum at Tungipara.
“It is in our proposal,” Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen said on Sunday at his office after his return from New Delhi where he had foreign office consultations with his counterpart Harsh Vardhan Shringla.
Modi earlier described Bangabandhu as one of the ‘greatest personalities’ of the last century. His visit will also mark the birth centenary celebration of Bangabandhu.
According to Bangladesh’s plan, Modi is expected to arrive on March 26 and the summit meeting with his counterpart Sheikh Hasina will be held on March 27.
Before the visit, the foreign secretary said, Bangladesh and India would hold four Secretary-level meetings to give inputs for the summit.
The meeting between the Water Resources Secretaries will be held in New Delhi while Commerce Secretary-level, Home Secretary-level and Shipping Secretary-level talks will be held in Dhaka.
Bangladesh also wants to rename the historic road from Mujib Nagar to Nodia on Bangladesh-India border as "Shadhinota Shorok" commemorating the historic significance of the road during Bangladesh's Liberation War in 1971.
The road is likely to be inaugurated during the PM-level meeting, the foreign secretary said, adding that the Feni Bridge will also be inaugurated during the visit.
The foreign secretary said Indian external affairs minister Dr S. Jaishankar is also expected to come to Dhaka before Modi’s visit.
The foreign secretary level talks between Bangladesh and India were held on January 29 at the Hyderabad House in New Delhi.
Bangladesh delegation was led by Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen and Indian side was led by Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla.
High level officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Water Resources and Ministry of Commerce of Bangladesh formed the Bangladesh delegation.
The Indian delegation consisted of representatives from the Ministries of External Affairs, Home Affairs, Commerce and Industry, Jal Shakti and Finance.
Both sides held detailed discussions on the wide-ranging areas of ongoing cooperation between the two countries.
They discussed preparations for the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Dhaka in March 2021 in connection with celebration of Mujib Borsho and commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Bangladesh’s Independence and Bangladesh-India diplomatic relations.
They also discussed joint celebration of the anniversaries in select capitals of the world.
Bangladesh thanked the Indian side for inviting a 122 member tri services contingent from Bangladesh Armed Forces for participation in the 72nd Republic Day parade. Bangladesh also expressed gratitude to the Government of India for nominating two distinguished Bangladeshis for receiving the Padma Shri awards this year.
COVID related cooperation was discussed and Bangladesh thanked India for the timely support, particularly in the area of vaccines.
Bangladesh Foreign Secretary also noted that the first 5 million doses of the 30 million vaccines, being procured by Bangladesh had reached Bangladesh and expected that the remaining amount would follow according to schedule.
Underscoring the interdependent nature of the economies of the two countries, the Bangladesh side reiterated its request to India for addressing the various non-tariff barriers on export of goods from Bangladesh to India and also to simplify customs procedures.
Thanking India for championing connectivity initiatives in the region, Bangladesh requested early operationalisation of the Motor Vehicle Agreement under the framework of Bangladesh-India-Nepal (BIN) to start with.
Bangladesh also requested India to consider allowing use of new land and rail routes and land ports via India for facilitating connectivity between Bangladesh and Nepal as well as Bangladesh and Bhutan.
Noting the efficacy of the Air Bubble arrangements in the COVID situation, both sides welcomed extension of Air Bubble flights between Bangladesh and India until 30 April or resumption of regular flights, whichever is earlier.
Expeditious implementation of the projects under Lines of Credit was discussed. Both sides expressed satisfaction at the newly established high-level monitoring mechanism which held its first meeting earlier this month.
The Bangladesh side flagged the need to streamline issues such as the project approval process, raw material sourcing, banking requirements, and calculation of grace period.
Bangladesh reiterated the request for signing of the Teesta Water Sharing Agreement.
Indian side assured that the matter is under consideration and also conveyed the proposal to work towards concluding the framework agreement of the sharing of waters of the six rivers, prioritised earlier.
The two foreign secretaries discussed the need for increased cooperation between Border Forces with a view to bringing down border killings to zero.
They also noted with satisfaction the holding of the 2nd round of Consular Dialogue between the two countries the day before.
Easing consular issues would encourage greater people to people contacts, which is at the core of excellent ties between the two countries.
Momen requested a deeper engagement of India for creating a conducive environment in the Rakhine state for a sustainable return of the forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals.
