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Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a bilateral meeting with his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina on Friday, a day before the G20 Leaders Summit begins in Delhi. Bangladesh is invited as a guest country to the Summit which will take place at the Bharat Mandapam in Delhi on September 9 and 10.
During the bilateral meeting, the two leaders held discussions on a broad spectrum of areas of cooperation, including political and security cooperation, border management, trade and connectivity, and water resources. They also engaged in deliberations regarding initiatives related to power and energy, development cooperation, as well as cultural and people-to-people ties.
Three Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) meant to strengthen bilateral cooperation were also exchanged in the meeting between PM Modi and Sheikh Hasina. The three MoUs include one between the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and Bangladesh Agriculture Research Council (BARC), the second on cooperation in digital payment mechanisms between the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and Bangladesh Bank, and a third on the renewal of the Cultural Exchange Program (CEP) between the two countries for the years 2023-2025.
In an exclusive interview with India Today, Bangladesh Foreign Minister, AK Abdul Momen said Indo-Bangladesh relations are in a golden age and expressed his gratitude towards India for the G20 Summit invite. He said there is a significant opportunity to represent South Asian interests on the global platform of the G2O.
Momen praised India’s leadership in inclusivity through its digital public infrastructure and acknowledged the deep-seated historical and cultural bonds that unify India and Bangladesh. He said the issue of climate change is crucial for countries like Bangladesh and “we are glad that India is ensuring its seriousness”.
The prime ministers of the two countries welcomed the start of operations of the Chattogram and Mongla Ports Agreement and the inception of the India-Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline. Further, the official endorsement of the settlement of bilateral trade through Indian Rupees (INR) emerged as a significant point of discussion, and the prime ministers encouraged business communities from both countries to utilise the mechanism effectively.
PM Modi and Sheikh Hasina also expressed contentment over the progression of the development cooperation projects between India and Bangladesh. They also talked about the beginning of negotiations on the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), concerning trade in goods, services, and protecting and promoting investment.
PM Modi acknowledged Bangladesh’s “burden” in hosting over a million people displaced from the Rakhine State in Myanmar and conveyed India’s commitment to support solutions towards safe and sustainable repatriation of the refugees.
The two leaders agreed to continue working together to intensify their wide-ranging engagement.
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