The Foreign Minister and Joint General Secretary of the ruling Awami League, Hasan Mahmud, said on Wednesday that the government has signed new MoUs and renewed old ones with India for the sake of protecting the country's interests.
He made the remarks while responding to a question regarding BNP's negative comments on the prime minister's recent visit to India.
The foreign minister said that the BNP secretary general is commenting without understanding the difference between the agreement and the memorandum of understanding.
"Their job is to oppose the government for no reason," Hasan said.
Describing the relationship with India as 'mutually respectful,' the foreign minister said that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi invited Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for a state visit as the first head of government after forming the government for the third time.
"India is our trusted friend. The way India helped us in our War of Liberation, the way their soldiers sacrificed their lives, the way they sheltered our nearly one crore people — our relationship with them is inseparable," he said.
The minister noted that when BNP was in power, they could not maintain relations with neighbouring countries. "BNP leader Khaleda Zia herself said that she forgot to talk about the Ganga Treaty when she went to India," Hasan said.
"We are getting water because Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina signed the Ganga Treaty in 1996," he said.
The foreign minister said that today, under the leaderships of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the relationship between the two countries has reached a new height.
As a result, he said, Bangladesh is able to import hydropower from Nepal through a transmission line over India. "Discussions are also underway with Bhutan. India lifted the ban on onion exports to Bangladesh ahead of Eid-ul-Azha this year because of the friendly relationship."
In response to a question about connectivity with India, Hasan said that Dhaka-Kolkata Khulna-Kolkata rail connectivity exists.
Along with India, work is underway to develop regional rail and road connectivity with Nepal and Bhutan.
