Hasina-Modi talks in New Delhi
Bangladesh to raise issues of Teesta, NRC, border killings
A number of deals will also be signed during the PM's visit to India, says foreign minister
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Bangladesh will raise the issues of Teesta river water-sharing, Assam’s citizenship exercise and border killings along with other ones during a high-level meeting between Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi in New Delhi on October 5.
Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen came up with the statement while briefing the media on Wednesday, reports bdnews24.com.
Sheikh Hasina will leave Dhaka for the Indian capital at 8:00am on Thursday in a special flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines in her first visit to the neighbouring country after winning the 2018 elections.
The minister said a whole raft of issues will be discussed at the bilateral meeting.
"A number of deals will also be signed during the visit, said the minister, without getting into specifics as various aspects are yet to be finalised. It’ll be at least 10 to 12 (deals),” he said.
A senior government official said more than 15 deals on connectivity, culture, technical cooperation, trade and investment are in the offing.
“Fourteen have so far been confirmed,” the official said on Wednesday.
Bangladesh and India are currently enjoying the “best of relations”.
Over 100 agreements have been signed in the last 10 years, 68 of which were concluded in the last three years alone. India also rolled out three lines of credit to Bangladesh worth $7.5 billion including $200 million grants for different development projects.
The decades-old land boundary and maritime issues have been solved, but the equitable share of the Teesta river water remains unresolved.
The Assam’s citizenship exercise or NRC has also raised concern in Bangladesh as many fear that those rendered non-citizens of India may be pushed into Bangladesh.
But India maintains that it is their internal issue which in no way will affect Bangladesh, a promise that Momen earlier said Dhaka trusts.
Replying to a question, the foreign minister, however, said they would raise the NRC issue and the pending Teesta water sharing deal during the talks.