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Foreign Affairs Adviser M. Touhid Hossain said on Tuesday that only one agreement signed with India during the previous Sheikh Hasina administration has been cancelled—rejecting claims by another government adviser that 10 such deals had been scrapped.
Speaking to reporters at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Hossain said the only cancelled agreement was related to the supply of tugboats by Indian defense contractor Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers (GRSE), and that the cancellation was made “with the consent of both parties.”
“Reports claiming the cancellation of 10 agreements and projects with India are incorrect,” Mr. Hossain said, while declining to comment on why Youth and Sports Adviser Asif Mahmud Sajib Bhuiyan had posted otherwise on Facebook.
“A list has been circulated, apparently by one of the advisers. Perhaps he could have avoided doing that,” he added.
Mr. Hossain said that many of the projects mentioned in Mr. Bhuiyan’s post “do not actually exist.” However, he confirmed that one more project, involving the establishment of an Export Processing Zone (EPZ) at Mongla under India’s line of credit, is currently under review and may be cancelled.
The adviser also noted that the interim government is reviewing several bilateral agreements signed with India in recent years to ensure they align with Bangladesh’s present priorities.
Mr. Bhuiyan, in a post on his verified Facebook page recently, claimed that 10 agreements and projects signed during the Hasina government had already been cancelled, while others were “under consideration”. He also published what he said was a list of the cancelled and pending deals.
When asked about that list, Mr. Hossain said that “most of the projects cited by Mr. Asif actually do not exist.”
He had told The Financial Express on Monday that he would respond to the Facebook post the following day.
In the briefing Mr. Hossain also addressed several other issues. Responding to a question about a letter from international human rights organisations to Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus, he said the government could not accept all the recommendations but would “certainly address all legitimate human rights concerns as much as possible.”
On reports that some Bangladeshi citizens working in Russia were being forced or lured into joining the war in Ukraine, Mr. Hossain said it was difficult to prevent such individuals from taking part in combat if they chose to do so for money or other benefits.
“The government does not permit any Bangladeshi citizen to fight for either Russia or Ukraine,” he said firmly.
Asked about the United Nations’ decision to reduce peacekeeping deployments, Mr. Hossain said the government was working to ensure that Bangladeshi peacekeepers are minimally affected by the downsizing.