India’s Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar has said exchange of instrument of ratification of Land Boundary Agreement during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘historic’ visit will “completely settle boundary with Bangladesh”.
Published : 05 Jun 2015, 10:37 PM
“It’s a very historic visit. In fact, there are two concepts of the prime minister’s visit…one is Neighbourhood First Policy and the Look East Policy,” said Jaishankar.
He was briefing media in New Delhi on Friday on the eve of Modi’s two-day Bangladesh visit.
On Saturday afternoon, Modi and Sheikh Hasina will exchange the ‘instrument’ of land ratification agreement before exchanging several other key agreements.
There will be delegation-level talks and signing of agreements.
“The border settlement would also solve several other problems including human trafficking, pumping of FICN, drug trafficking and illegal movement of people,” said Jaishankar.
On the first day, Modi will meet Leader of the Opposition Raushon Ershad, BNP chief Khaleda Zia, Left party leaders and business leaders of Bangladesh.
“The prime minister will also have lunch with Bangladesh President Abdul Hamid,” Jaishankar said.
On day two, along with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Modi will flag off bus services on Kolkata-Dhaka-Agartala and Dhaka-Shillong-Guwahati routes.
Jaishankar said setting up of Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Bangladesh was high on the agenda of Modi.
“This will attract more Indian investment to Bangladesh which would automatically enhance the economic condition of both the countries,” he said.
Modi’s visit would also strengthen cooperation in all other sectors including power, communications, IT as well as culture.
“As of now, we are supplying 500 MW of electricity to Bangladesh…we will try to increase it,” Jaishankar said.
He further said there would be a cultural exchange agreement for screening Bangladesh cultural programmes on Indian television.