Water, trade, sea disputes, border killing, Rohingya to dominate Hasina-Modi talks

Cooperation in the water sector including sharing of waters of the common rivers, bilateral trade, disputes on rights in the deep sea and border killing by Indians would dominate the talks between prime minister Sheikh Hasina and her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi scheduled for Saturday.

Sheikh Hasina would leave Dhaka Thursday morning on a four-day official visit to India. A high-level delegation would accompany her in the talks set to be held at Hyderabad House in New Delhi.

Border killing, trade and economic cooperation, negotiations on a framework agreement on sharing of water of the seven common rivers including the River Teesta, proper use of the Ganges water, using Chittagong and Mongla seaports for goods to and from India and Nepal, and Indian cooperation in resolving the Rohingya crisis with Myanmar would be discussed in the talks led by the two prime ministers, foreign minister AK Abdul Momen said at a press conference in Dhaka on Wednesday. 

On the issue of continuous border killing by Indian border guards in spite of commitments from successive prime ministers of the country to stop such killings, Momen said, ‘Killing along the border is unacceptable.’

Killing along the border should come down to zero with implementations of the  commitments by the two countries, he said.

On the question of possibility of finalising a standard operating procedure on using Chittagong and Mongla seaports for goods to and from India and Nepal, the minister said that Bangladesh and India ‘have some problems of bureaucracy.’

‘Implementation of many decisions taken at the political level got delayed due to bureaucracy,’ he alleged.

Asked about the possibility of signing a framework agreement on sharing of water of the seven common rivers including the River Teesta, foreign secretary M Shahidul Haque said at the press conference that ‘the framework agreement is yet to take shape as the two countries have just started the discussion on the matter.’

The two governments were working on signing some 10 instruments for cooperation in areas of recognising standards of goods certified by organisations like Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution and co-operations among universities, information technology, culture, sharing of data on river flows and rainfall by India, etc.

Bangladesh was insisting India for removal of barriers in accepting a mechanism for common standards of exportable products for increasing trade with certification of the Bangladesh Standard Testing Institution and the Bureau of Indian Standards as both the organisations are members of the Asian Standard Testing Union.

The two sides are likely to form several technical bodies, including one on increasing utilisation of the Ganges water, and another on flows of rivers, including that of the Feni, Manu, Muhuri, Khowai, Gumti, Dharla and the Dudhkumar.

Utilisation of a line of credit extended by India for purchasing military equipment might be discussed in the meeting as India was insisting on making the LOC operation. The MoU was signed during prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit to India in April 2017 on the $500 million Indian loan for buying military equipment under suppliers credit system.

The two sides are likely to discuss an Indian request to withdraw objections on rights in the deep sea raised at the UN bodies by both sides. 

The Bangladesh side was also expecting a formal discussion at the highest political level on India’s move for updating National Register of Citizens with keeping at least two millions Bangla-speaking people out of the list.

Sheikh Hasina will pay a courtesy call on Indian president Shri Ram Nath Kovind at Rashtrapati Bhawan, according to Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha.

Indian National Congress president Sonia Gandhi will call on the Bangladesh premier at her place of residence on October 6.

Hasina will attend an interactive session with the select CEOs of India at Tian, ITC Maurya and the inauguration ceremony of India-Bangladesh Business Forum at Kamal Mahal, ICT Maurya and closing plenary session of the World Economic Forum at Darbar Hall, Hotel Taj Palace on October 4.

Deputy prime minister of Singapore Heng Swee Keat will pay a courtesy call on Sheikh Hasina.

Noted Indian film director Shyam Benegal, who is assigned to make a film on the life of Bangladesh’s founding president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, will meet Hasina during the visit.

Sheikh Hasina will return home on October 6.

This visit was initially planned for joining the 33rd India Economic Summit organised by the World Economic Forum scheduled for October 3-4 in New Delhi. The visit was, however, turned into a bilateral visit at the invitation of her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net