Dhaka pushes Delhi to settle pending issues

Unresolved issues between Bangladesh and India must be resolved to take forward the bilateral relations with India, foreign minister AH Mahmood Ali has said before leaving for New Delhi on his first bilateral visit.

Senior Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 18 Sept 2014, 05:22 AM
Updated : 18 Sept 2014, 09:25 AM

He said it was “undeniable” that existing relations were deep, but insisted both sides needed to carry this forward.

“We want an even deeper relation and for that we want unresolved issues should be settled.  That’s a must,” he told reporters at the Shahjalal International Airport on Thursday.

The minister headed to the Indian capital with a strong delegation comprising seven secretaries including the foreign secretary.

He will attend the third foreign minister level meeting, Joint Consultative Commission (JCC), to be held on Sept 20. This will be the first such meeting after the regime change in Delhi.

The progress in bilateral cooperation in all areas including security, trade, connectivity, power, water resources, border management, infrastructure, people to people contacts, culture, environment, and education will be reviewed in the meeting.

Foreign ministry officials earlier told bdnews24.com that the minister would seek “specific timeframe” from India to resolve the pending Teesta water sharing treaty and Land Boundary Agreement (LBA).

The minister, however, evaded a direct answer about the timeframe. “We are trying (to resolve). It’s a continuous process”.

“Definitely” was his reply when asked whether Dhaka has any sense of urgency to get those resolved.

The LBA is awaiting approval in the upper house of Indian parliament, Rajya Sabha while the Teesta water sharing treaty has been shelved after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s resistance.

The minister, however, said the aim of his visit would be to take the relations forward and “make it deeper and stronger”.

He said pending issues (Teesta water sharing, LBA), security co-operation and border management, co-operation in energy and power, regional and sub-regional level, and water resource management would be high on Dhaka’s priority.

Ali said his counterpart Sushma Swaraj’s “stand-alone” visit in June within a month of the BJP government coming to power reflected the “depth and cordiality” of the relations.

He said within four months two more Indian ministers visited Dhaka –junior minister for external affairs and health minister.

This was also a reflection of the “new dimensions” of the relations.

The foreign minister said apart from the JCC, he would pay a courtesy call to the President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

He said he would also meet with more other ministers, political leaders, and eminent citizens before he leaves Delhi for New York on Sep 21 to attend UN general assembly with the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Ali said he would hand over a list of Bangladeshi products that face difficulties in Indian market despite Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI) certificates during the JCC meeting.

A MoU would be also signed for affiliation of the Nalanda University at Bihar, he said.

Both regional and sub-regional issues particularly BIMSTEC, SAARC and BCIM-EC would be discussed, apart from co-operation in the international area.

“We hope the meeting will be successful and it will act as a catalyst of further improving Bangladesh-India relations,” he said.

When asked, he said it was already agreed that India would not allow its territory to use against Bangladesh.

“Yes, we’ll want (the assurance),” he said when asked citing media reports that Indian Saradha company was financing the Jamaat-e-Islami in Bangladesh.

He, however, said it was a matter best left to India’s own investigation.

Prime Minister’s Principal Secretary, Secretaries for commerce, shipping, economic relations division, power and water resources have joined the foreign minister apart from foreign secretary M Shahidul Huq.

This is the first time a group of secretaries from different ministries is joining the JCC.

India earlier proposed to take secretaries of different ministries with the foreign minister during the visit. This is to increase interactions at civil service level, officials said.