External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna on Thursday said India was committed to building a strong partnership with Bangladesh, including assistance in developmental efforts and enhanced bilateral cooperation to mutual benefit.
Making a suo motu statement in the Lok Sabha on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's September 6-7 visit to Bangladesh, he said the trip achieved a concrete progress in New Delhi's efforts to develop and strengthen close and friendly relations with Dhaka.
On the signing of border management agreements, he said: “We hope that problems arising from illegal border crossings and related difficulties will be better addressed by both sides.” India's efforts to resolve the border issues with Bangladesh reflected its desire to make the country's borders with the neighbours “borders of peace, stability and amity.”
On water treaties, he said: “we are keen to arrive at fair and equitable arrangements for sharing of our common rivers. We have experience of this before, as in the Ganga Water Treaty of 1996. We, however, recognise that water is a sensitive issue in both the countries. The government will work towards arriving at solutions that are acceptable to all concerned.”
India would encourage people-to-people contacts, greater cultural interactions and more exchanges among persons, youth and scholars. The two countries would remain engaged in the joint effort to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore in an appropriate manner up to May 2012.