Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will meet India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Friday, ahead of her meeting with PM Narendra Modi, her first bilateral visit in seven years. In a written interview to The Hindu ’s Dhaka correspondent Haroon Habib, Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmud Ali says that talks on water sharing, and the honouring of Bangladesh liberation war heroes of the Indian army will be among the highlights of her visit.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina arrives in India today for the first bilateral visit after seven years. What should we expect from the visit?
In recent years, the steady development of bilateral relationship between Bangladesh and India has been strengthened by exchange of high-level visits. The visit by Hon’ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India to Bangladesh in June 2015 was tremendously productive and took our relations to new heights. Our Hon’ble Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will be paying a return visit now.
Our partnership is mature, broad and strong. In the last three years, we have experienced remarkable progress in many areas, namely, security, connectivity, development cooperation, cultural exchange, power, trade and commerce, defence exchange and so on. The security cooperation together with our collective fight against terrorism and violent extremism continue to play an important role in achieving peace, stability and security in the region and beyond.
Our two countries also share common commitment to advance regional and international cooperation including strengthening regional processes such as BIMSTEC, BBIN and BCIM.
Thus, our past, present and future are, indeed, interlinked. We are happy that the bonds of friendship have grown from strength to strength with time and today we are enjoying the best of relations.
This visit of Hon’ble Prime Sheikh Hasina to India will certainly add much value. This visit will make our relations even deeper and stronger. Through this visit, we are going to further broaden our cooperation in few new sectors like satellite and outer space, peaceful use of nuclear energy, information and communication technology, cyber-security, defence etc.
More specifically, tell us about the highlights of the visit.
The State visit itself and the host of events that will be taking place during the visit are the testimonies to strong bilateral relations between our two countries.
a) For the first time, we are recognizing the extraordinary contribution and sacrifice made by the Indian soldiers during our Liberation war in 1971.
b) Second, we will be raising all water-related issues including sharing of common rivers. We also would like to further discuss the Padma-Ganges Barrage project and basin-wide management of our water resources to the benefit of our two peoples.
c) Third, we are also undertaking more connectivity initiatives including joint implementation of space and satellite programmes, information and communication technology, cyber-security, peaceful use of nuclear energy etc.
You have said that since 1975, this is the best time in bilateral ties. What do you credit the turnaround of the past decade with?
Since assuming office, the present government of Ms Hasina has put utmost importance on improving relationship with all its neighbours. Bangladesh believes that peaceful and stable relationship with a neighbour is a prerequisite for internal stability of a country and for engaging with them in a forward-looking manner.
Bangladesh does not tolerate terrorism or anti-state activities in any form and will not allow its soil to be used against the interest of any country. Starting in 2009, Bangladesh has addressed India’s security concerns. Our commitment has been amply demonstrated in the past eight years through our tough and decisive actions. On the trade front, our bilateral trade volume has increased to over USD 6.4 billion. We have taken a number of collaborative projects in infrastructure and connectivity, which are important for the growth of our economies.
All these have brought a transformational change in our relationship. Trust and confidence between our countries and our leadership have also increased manifold. As a result, people-to-people links have got a tremendous boost, which is manifested by the fact that 1.3 million Bangladeshi citizens visited India last year and in fact Bangladesh nationals became the single largest tourist group in India. This is how it should be.
In essence, our relations have reached a new height and we are enjoying the best of relations at this moment.
How does the PM plan to honour those Indian soldiers who died during the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971?
Valiant members of the Indian Armed Forces fought shoulder to shoulder with our freedom fighters in the final stages of the Liberation War - their blood mingled with the blood of our Mukti Bahini. By honouring them during the visit of Ms Hasina, we are indeed acknowledging their supreme sacrifice in our Liberation War. Ms Hasina will personally hand over “Liberation War Honour” crest and a citation to the next of kin of 7 Indian martyrs of 1971. In all, we will honour 1661 Indian martyrs in phases.
