Dhaka, Delhi "committed to further enhance" bilateral military ties

The second Bangladesh-India Tri-Services Staff talks were held in New Delhi on Wednesday in a "warm and cordial" atmosphere, reports UNB.

Both sides, while expressing satisfaction at the scope and scale of the Tri-Services military cooperation, "committed to enhance" the bilateral military ties further, according to Integrated Defence Staff (IDS) headquarters.

The meeting was co-chaired from the Indian side by Deputy Assistant Chief of Integrated Staff, IDC (A), HQ Integrated Defence Staff (IDS) Brigadier Vivek Narang and Director General Operation and Plan Directorate Armed Force Division (AFD) from the Bangladesh side Brigadier General Husain Muhammad Rahaman.

The discussions focused on the ongoing and new initiatives taken under the ambit of existing bilateral defence cooperation mechanism of all three services and further strengthening the bilateral defence engagements, according to the Press Information Bureau of India. 

The Tri-services Staff Talks (TSST) is a forum established to boost defence cooperation between both the nations through regular talks at the strategic and operational levels between AFD, Bangladesh and HQ IDS.

A 15-member delegation of Bangladesh Armed Forces (BAF) led by Lt Gen Waker-Uz-Zaman, Principal Staff Officer (PSO) of the AFD, is visiting India to attend the 4th annual defence dialogue and 2nd Tri Services Staff talks.

Lt Gen Waker-uz-Zaman also called on Air Marshal BR Krishna and Lt Gen GAV Reddy, DG DIA.

They discussed bilateral and regional security situation, enhancing the scope and scale of defence cooperation and matters of mutual interest.

On August 8 and 9, the delegation visited various defence industries in Bangalore.

They witnessed the capabilities of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, Bharat Electronics Limited, Tata Advanced Systems Limited and Big Bang Boom Solutions before departing for Delhi, Indian High Commission in Dhaka tweeted on Wednesday.

The PSO will also visit the Information Fusion Centre, Indian Ocean Region at Gurugram which is the maritime safety information sharing hub for the region.