Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday said the people of both countries will benefit from the cooperation in all the areas identified and the decisions are taken to solve the existing bilateral problems during her India visit.
“I think that my visit, after a long break of three years due to the Covid pandemic, has opened a new horizon in Bangladesh-India relations. All aspects of Bangladesh-India relations were discussed during my visit,” said the prime minister in her written speech ahead of the question-answer session at her post-India visit press conference Wednesday.
Sheikh Hasina said both the countries highlighted sincerity and pledged to continue bilateral cooperation on the basis of equality and respect as good neighbours.
She said Teesta water sharing, cessation of border killings, trade expansion, withdrawal of anti-dumping duty on Bangladesh jute products, repatriation of the Rohingyas, and import of electricity from Nepal and Bhutan via India, were discussed.
“After all, in the changed world situation, this visit would accelerate both the countries to move forward together in a new way. I firmly believe that this cooperation will continue for the welfare of the people of both countries and South Asia, including Bangladesh and India, will become a prosperous region soon,” added the prime minister.
She said the people of both countries will be benefited from the cooperation in all the areas identified during this visit and the decisions taken to solve the existing problems.
During the visit, the sides signed seven Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) including the withdrawal of 153 cusecs of water from the Kushiar river to Bangladesh under the Surma-Kushiara project, Scientific and Technological Cooperation between Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), she said.
Sheikh Hasina said as per the MoU, Bangladesh will receive 153 cusecs of water under the Surma-Kushiara project from the common river Kushiara and as a result, 5,000 hectares of land will get irrigation facilities through Rahimpur Link Canal.
Apart from this, the premier also said that an agreement has been made on cooperation in the fields of environment, climate change, cyber security, space technology, green economy, cultural and people-to-people communication.
“We agreed to complete the construction work of the second gate proposed by India at the Petrapol- Benapole border as soon as possible to expand trade. A delegation from Bangladesh will soon visit India to participate in the start-up fair,” she added.
In this context, she said some more MoUs are under discussion in the IT sector, which we expect to be finalised soon. If these MoUs are signed, Bangladesh will march forward another step towards achieving "Digital Bangladesh", she expressed hope.
