Prabhu for boosting ties with Dhaka

Suggests collaboration in climate change, transportation and agriculture

May 23, 2015 02:18 am | Updated November 16, 2021 02:17 pm IST - New Delhi:

A partnership between New Delhi and Dhaka to save the rare ecosystem of the Sundarbans and that agreement should be signed in a boat — that was Union Minister Suresh Prabhu’s suggestion as Environment Minister in 1998 to his counterpart in Dhaka which could not be carried out.

Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Dhaka, Mr. Prabhu, who now holds the portfolio of Railways, said his earlier suggestion could still be followed up with more such agreements between the two nations on various other fronts including climate change, transportation and agriculture.

Sundarbans ecosystem

“I proposed to my counterpart [then] that the Sundarbans is one common ecosystem, when the tigers go from India to Bangladesh and from there to here, they don’t need any passport or visa, no custom can stop them ... why not we, therefore, conserve the rarest ecosystem in the world. I proposed I will come from this side on a boat; you come from that side ... I think we should try to do that soon. We will have to do so many things together, this is one of them,” he said addressing the sixth India-Bangladesh friendship dialogue on “Bangladesh-India relations: bilateralism and beyond.”

Having ratified the four-decade-old India-Bangladesh Land Border Agreement, New Delhi is keen to extend its partnership with Bangladesh to areas such as climate change, energy and transportation, he said. Pitching for a joint water management between the two countries, Mr. Prabhu said: “It will be a great advantage to do joint water management, and save us from natural disasters; floods cause more damage than draught. If we put up a joint water management front with India, Bangladesh and even Nepal, without taking away anyone’s water, we can meet the challenge of climate change.”

Energy cooperation

He suggested collaboration even in the field of agriculture, and setting up of a grid for energy cooperation. “India and Bangladesh are trying to work together in the sector of railways, I have extended an invitation to my Bangladeshi counterpart,” he said.

Top News Today

Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.