New Delhi looks forward Sheikh Hasina’s India visit: Jaishankar

Visiting Indian External Affairs minister Dr S Jaishankar today said he conveyed to Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina his premier Narendra Modi’s invitation to visit India in her convenient time.

“(I) conveyed that we look forward to her (Sheikh Hasina) visit to India at a time of her convenience,” he told media at a short joint briefing after holding a meeting with foreign minister Dr AK Abdul Momen at Foreign Service Academy here.

Jaishankar added that during his call on with Bangladesh premier, a number of issues came up as “we reviewed bilateral ties as well as rational and global issues”.

The Indian external affiars minister said he also conveyed Modi’s personal greeting and good wishes to his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina .

Jaishankar said he was also looking forward to welcome Momen to join the seventh round of Joint Consultative Commission meeting in New Delhi, which he said “will provide a good opportunity  to lay the ground for the next level of our relationship”.

Neither Jaishankar nor Momen talked about the possible date of the meeting when the Bangladesh foreign minister said by now “we resolved several big and critical problems with India”.

Momen called the pending issues as “minor issues” but added “we have committed to solve them through dialogue as well”.

Jaishankar said Bangladesh and India made good progress in bilateral relations despite lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic while “we remained regularly in touch (amid pandemic)”.

Last year, he said Indian president and prime minister visited Bangladesh in a same year that is first time happened in the history of India.

“My visit, today is aimed at continuing the (bilateral) progress in deepening of our engagements . . . the regularity, informality and cordiality of our interaction is a very good reflection of trust and confidence, (while) our leaders have remained in touch,” Jaishankar said.

He said the connectivity between the two neighbours went back to pre-Covid level and New Delhi would resume cross borders bus and railway services shortly after the Eid.

“In fact the Covid itself taught us how important it was to have regional supply chains, value chains so that whether it was essential commodities or Oxygen, medicine or food, we could count on each other at this time of difficulty,” the Indian foreign minister said.

He added: “This also a matter of satisfaction for us that trade, disbursement of loans on bilateral projects, travel services and investment (between the two countries) are at new heights under they have recovered momentum which was lost during the Covid”.

Jaishankar expected early commissioning of new projects with Bangladesh in different sectors including power, energy and connectivity sectors to take forward of what “we have done in the last few years”.

He said India also looks forward to stronger sub-regional cooperation and connectivity in energy sector, particularly the hydropower domain that could offer opportunities for mutually beneficial cooperation between the countries in the region.

“India is a large producer and consumer of energy and we are very glad to work with our neighbors in that regard including in the BBIN (Bangladesh-Bhutan-India-Nepal) framework,” he said.

He said India would continue to take the lead to structure progressive partnerships of production, transmission and trade in this region.

Jaishankar described the current period as “golden chapter” of Bangladesh-India ties which he said was reflected setting up first Bangabandhu Chair in India, offering Subarna Jayantee scholarships for Bangladeshi students, holding Bangabandhu-Bapu Digital Exhibition and commemorating ‘Maitree Diwas’ in 18 capitals apart from Dhaka and New Delhi.

“These are all in keeping with the spirit of solidarity between us (Bangladesh and India) which we hope to pass on to the younger generations,” he said.

Jaishankar arrived here this afternoon to meet with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and held meeting with his Bangladesh counterpart Momen.

He is scheduled to leave here for Bhutan on Friday morning.