Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is planning to visit India in October at the invitation of her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi to cement the ties and explore new areas of cooperation between the two next-door neighbours.
Political leaders and government officials of both countries are engaged in a war footing to make the visit successful.
In the last one month, home minister-level and water secretary-level meetings were held and Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar is scheduled to arrive in Dhaka on Monday (Aug 19) on a bilateral trip to set the tone of the visit.
It will be Jaishankar’s first visit to Bangladesh as foreign minister. He earlier visited Dhaka several times as foreign secretary.
Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen and his Indian counterpart will discuss their priorities and aspirations to have more concrete political relations in the coming days.
“Both the countries want to have a solid understanding about themselves as their top political leaders know in bilateral relations, irritants occur here and there,” said a government official seeking anonymity.
Having irritant is not a problem, but not having a mindset to solve it amicably is a big challenge, he said.
Citing example, he said after filing a case with an international court to resolve a maritime boundary dispute between Bangladesh and India, there was a dilemma at the official level about how to cope with changing the environment but the firm determination and understanding at the top political levels showed them the way forward.
“Bangladesh believes in resolving issues amicably through dialogue and for that political understanding is very important,” the official said.
It is difficult to resolve Rohingya crisis as there is a lack of trust between Bangladesh and Myanmar but in the case Dhaka and New Delhi, both solved sensitive boundary disputes issue without any hiccup, he added.
WATER
India has agreed to find out the pros and cons of Ganges barrage project, which is important for Bangladesh.
“We hope to form a joint committee to conduct the Ganga barrage feasibility study by this year,” said another official.
It has also been decided that water flow data of seven common rives will be analysed by September and expected to ink deals on water sharing of each of the rivers in the future, he said.
The rivers are Feni, Manu, Dharala, Dudhkumar, Khowai, Gumti and Muhuri.
“At this stage, it is difficult to say when the agreements will be signed but we are working on it,” he added.
Dhaka and New Delhi agreed about the text on water sharing of Teesta river in 2011 but it is yet to be signed.
NRC IN ASSAM
It is a domestic political issue in India and almost all political parties in Assam play the ‘Bangladesh card’ to get support from the people.
“Dhaka is fully aware that over four million Indians in Assam are waiting for their verification, but we will not let the problem pass the border,” said one official.
The Indian political players including BJP, the ruling party, alleged that many Bangladeshis crossed the border and settled in Assam which is vehemently opposed by Dhaka.
In the last home minister-level meeting in New Delhi on Aug 7, a joint statement could not be issued over the dispute. Bangladesh also protested a press release issued by the Indian side as they mentioned the NRC issue in their release.