Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen on Thursday said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi would open the maiden cross-border oil pipeline jointly on March 18 for diesel transportation to Bangladesh.
“Good news is India will send us diesel. The [Oil] pipeline has been completed,” he told reporters at a briefing at the foreign ministry this afternoon.
He added, “The two prime ministers will inaugurate the pipeline on March 18 [through videoconferencing].”
The announcement came a week after he held talks with India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in New Delhi on the sidelines of the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting last week.
According to Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC), officials in India would export diesel through the 130km India-Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline (IBFPL), built at a cost of around 3.46 billion Indian rupees drawn from the Indian line of credit (LoC).
The pipeline stretches 125km inside Bangladesh territory and 5km inside India while the two prime ministers joined the groundbreaking ceremony for the IBFPL in September 2018 through videoconferencing.
Bangladesh so far used to import diesel from India through railway carriages.
The foreign minister said in another development India withdrew its objection to building any establishment by Bangladesh authorities inside 150 yards of Bangladesh territory along the zero lines.
“Now we can start our projects [along the frontier].”
Momen said critical issues like the border killing incidents also featured his talks with Jaishankar on March 3.
“I told them [Indian side] to keep their promise [to ensure zero border killing],” Momen said adding that New Delhi also reiterated that not want to see any killing along the frontier like Bangladesh.
The foreign minister said he also urged New Delhi for ensuring an uninterrupted supply of essential products to Bangladesh.
Momen said India gave high respect to the Bangladesh delegation throughout the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting reflecting the excellent Dhaka-Delhi bilateral relations.
