15

The recent India visit of the Bangladesh Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina has added strength to Indo-Bangla relations. She was invited as the Chief Guest at the India Economic Summit organised by the World Economic Forum on October 03-04, 2019 in New Delhi. On October 05, 2019, she met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss bilateral issues. This was Hasina’s first visit to India after being elected for the third consecutive term as the Bangladeshi Prime Minister.

Toufique Hasan, Deputy High Commissioner, Bangladesh Deputy High Commission (BDHC), Kolkata, India, told BE that the visit would strengthen political understanding between the two countries and will play an important role in the protection of mutual interests. He said, “During the bilateral meeting, both the leaders had fruitful discussions on various aspects of Bangladesh-India bilateral relations including sharing of the water of common rivers, border security, defence cooperation, connectivity, people-to-people contacts, expansion of bilateral trade, sub-regional cooperation, increased investment, cooperation in power sector among others. Seven bilateral documents were signed, exchanged, adopted and handed over during the visit.”

Professor Samir Kumar Das, Political Science Department, Calcutta University, told BE, “Teesta water distribution and the handling of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) issue in Assam are among the vital issues between these two countries.”

Das also said that, among other things, the issue of insurgency in north-east India might have also been discussed by the two leaders. He added, “The issue on Naga talks is not moving in the comfortable direction. In that case, Bangladesh will obviously become a factor in India’s understanding of the conflict in north-east India.”