PM Sheikh Hasina's Delhi visit: Focus on economy, connectivity

With governments being formed again in both Bangladesh and India, the prime ministers of the two countries, Sheikh Hasina and Narendra Modi, will be meeting on Saturday in Delhi. The meeting will discuss guidelines on where they want to take relations between the two close neighbours in the future. Economic cooperation, communications or connectivity as well as energy will get importance during the talks.

A source high up in the government informed Prothom Alo of the matter on Wednesday afternoon. The source said that over 10 agreements and MoUs are likely to be signed as well as renewed during prime minister Sheikh Hasina's trip.

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina will be leaving for Delhi tomorrow, Friday, upon the invitation of prime minister Narendra Modi. This is Sheikh Hasina's second trip to Delhi in a span of two weeks. Several officials of the foreign ministry have said the prime minister's bilateral trip will be brief. Her entourage will be comparatively small too.

Alongside official talks between prime minister Sheikh Hasina and prime minister Narendra Modi at Hyderabad House in Delhi on Saturday, the two leaders will also hold an exclusive meeting. Preparation is on for the signing of at least 14 agreements and MoUs after the talks between the two prime ministers. In all, over 10 agreements and MoUs are likely to be signed. Of these, at least four will be the renewal of expired agreements. The agreements and MoUs are to be signed on energy, connectivity, economy and other areas of cooperation.

Foreign secretary Masud Bin Momen, speaking to Prothom Alo on Wednesday, said, "The discussions between the two top leaders will include guidelines on where they want to take relations between the two countries in future. They will discuss this vision during their talks. This will include guidelines on future cooperation for connectivity, environment, outer space and new areas."

It was learnt from talking to Bangladesh officials that alongside new areas of cooperation, the talks this time will also deal with the agreement to share water of the common river Teesta, being border killings to a complete halt and other issues.

About the Teesta deal, foreign secretary Masud Bin Momen said there are no indications of a positive outcome to this issue any time soon. However, on a note of hope, in recent times India has been showing interest in development projects centering Teesta.

Quite a few years ago China had given Bangladesh a proposal regarding the expansion of the river Teesta. However, due to India's growing concern in this regard, Bangladesh has remained silent on the issue. After the Dhaka visit of Indian foreign secretary Vinod Kwatra in May, foreign minister Hasan Mahmud said that India has shown interest in financing the Teesta project.

Diplomatic sources in India on Wednesday informed this correspondent that India may come up with a fresh proposal regarding Teesta at the Delhi talks.

Trade between these two close South Asian neighbours has exceeded USD 14 billion (USD 1400 crore). While exports from Bangladesh have increased, bilateral trade remains greatly titled in favour of India. While Bangladeshi goods have access to the Indian market, tariff and non-tariff barriers remain an obstacle. The launch of CEPA (Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement) is likely to be announced at the bilateral meeting. The signing of CEPA may smooth the way to more balanced trade between the two countries.

Since 2010 India has been providing Bangladesh economic assistance under a credit agreement. The implementation of the line of credit totally around ISD 7.5 billion (USD 750 crore) has been moving at a slow pace. Talks have been held over the past few years between the two countries to speed up implement of the agreement. For quite some days now officials of the two countries have been working on a new agreement outline to speed up the line of credit. However, this agreement is not likely to be signed this time. The matter of this outline agreement may be included in the joint statement to be made at the end of the talks.

Multidimensional connectivity including road, railway and waterways between the two countries has been given special importance since 2010. The matter of energy was later added to connectivity. In the meantime Bangladesh has been importing power from Nepal using Indian territory. The talks this time will place importance on energy and these issues may feature in the joint statement.

Bangladesh-India Friendship Bridge is likely to be one of the projects that may appear in the joint declaration regarding the Hasina-Modi talks. This bridge will establish a link between Ramgargh in Bangladesh's Khagrachhari district and Sabroom in India's Tripura state.

According to a note issued by the Prime Minister's office Wednesday afternoon, on the first day of the visit, Indian foreign minister S Jaishankar will pay a courtesy call upon prime minister Sheikh Hasina Friday evening.

The next day, on Saturday morning prime minister Sheikh Hasina will be accorded a formal reception at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in Delhi. A guard of honour will also be accorded to prime minister Sheikh Hasina. After that prime minister Sheikh Hasina will lay wreaths at Mahatma Gandhi's mausoleum in Rajghat and sign the visitors' book there.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will then proceed to the Hyderabad House to meet with prime minister Narendra Modi. The two leaders will hold exclusive talks there. A state luncheon is also be hosted in honour of the Bangladesh prime minister. In the afternoon prime minister Sheikh Hasina will meet with the Indian vice president Jagdeep Shankar.

After meeting the Indian vice president, prime minister Sheikh Hasina will go to the Rashtrapati Bhavan where she will hold exclusive talks with the Indian president Droupadi Murmu.

At the end of the two-day visit, prime minister Sheikh Hasina will leave for Dhaka from Delhi's Palam airport on Saturday evening.