PM Modi visiting Bangladesh
PM Modi visiting Bangladesh
New Delhi: As India and Bangladesh are celebrating 50 years of friendship bond, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be visiting Bangladesh on 26-27 March 2021, at the invitation of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
According to the PMO, during his visit, the PM will take part in the National Day celebrations on Friday, which will also commemorate the birth centenary of the Father of the Nation of Bangladesh, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. He will also visit to Bangabandhu’s Samadhi in Tungipara to pay respects to his memory.
The PM will also offer prayers to Goddess Kali at the ancient Jashoreshwari Kali Temple, one of the 51 Shaktipeeths in the Puranic tradition. He will also interact with representatives of the Matua community at Orakandi, from where Sri Sri Harichandra Thakur disseminated his pious message. He will also meet the President Abdul Hamid and interact with other Bangladeshi dignitaries.
His visit will not only be an occasion to convey appreciation for Bangladesh’s remarkable economic and developmental strides under Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visionary leadership, but also to commit India’s abiding support for these achievements. He will also express India’s support and solidarity for Bangladesh’s fight against COVID-19.
India and Bangladesh are enjoying increasingly close relations, ever since the formation of then East Pakistan to People’s Republic of Bangladesh. But the onset of this relationship cemented at the battleground of 1971 war.
In 1971, India won the war against Pakistan, that resulted in the birth of then state of the East Pakistan to People’s Republic of Bangladesh. Indian military forces exemplary courage during the 1971 war brought the opposition army to its knees, resulted as India’s greatest military victory.
The relationship between India and Bangladesh is anchored in history, culture, language and shared values of secularism, democracy, and multitude of other commonalities between the two countries
Also, immediately after the 1971 war, New Delhi entrenched the diplomatic connections with Dhaka. And was the first country to identify Bangladesh as a democratic state.
Bangladesh is India’s biggest trade partner in South Asia. India’s exports to Bangladesh in FY 2018-19 stood at US$ 9.21 bn and imports from Bangladesh during the same period were US$1.04 bn. In 2019-20, Bangladesh’s exports to India stood at US$ 1096.38 million and Bangladesh’s Import from India during the same period stood at US$ 5793.60 million.
Earlier in 2015, during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Bangladesh, the trade agreement between India and Bangladesh was renewed for a period of five years with a provision for auto renewal.
The movement of goods between India and Bangladesh by roads is operationalized through 48 Land Customs Stations (LCSs) and 2 Integrated Check Posts (ICPs) along the border. Government of India plans to upgrade 8 more of the existing LCSs into ICPs to boost bilateral trade and commerce.
To provide policy level inputs in various areas of trade and investment and facilitate exchanges among the business communities between both the countries, Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina created an India-Bangladesh CEO’s Forum.
The longest land boundary that India shares with any of its neighbours is with Bangladesh. India and Bangladesh share 4096.7km of land border. Several boundary clashes had been erupted in past due to no proper border management. Activities like illegal migration, smuggling, and trans-border movement were the central concern of the border management.
Finding a solution out, both the countries signed the Coordinated Border Management Plan in 2011 aims to strengthen the efforts of both the forces for checking cross border illegal activities as well as for maintenance of peace along the India-Bangladesh border.
Several other conferences between BSF and BGB were also held regularly to discuss management and security of the India-Bangladesh land border.
India has extended 3 Lines of Credits to Bangladesh in the last decade amounting to US$ 8 billion. Thus, Bangladesh has been the largest recipient of LOC funds from India so far
When Prime Minister of Bangladesh paid a visit to India in January 2010, India had announced a US$1 billion Line of Credit (LOC) for Bangladesh covering projects in public transportation, roads, railways, bridges and inland waterways etc. The second LOC of US$ 2 billion was extended to Bangladesh when PM Modi visited the neighboring country in 2015. This LOC covers 15 projects in areas of Roads, Railways, Power, Shipping, SEZs, Health & Medical Care and Technical Education. The third LOC of US$ 4.5 was extended to Bangladesh in 2017 during the visit of Bangladesh PM to India.
The new LOC will cover projects in areas of Port Construction, Railways, Roads, Airports, Power & Energy, Telecommunications, and Shipping etc. Government of India also facilitates grant assistance to Bangladesh for projects under ‘Aid to Bangladesh’. Three Sustainable Development Projects (SDPs) are currently under process in the cities of Rajshahi, Khulna and Sylhet.
One of the most important projects under the Indian grant assistance is the Bangladesh section of the Agartala-Akhaura rail-link.
In January 2021, India extended the aid of 2 million doses of ‘Made in India’ COVID-19 vaacine, ‘Covishield’ to Bangladesh to assist the country in its fight against the pandemic.
The Government of India and Bangladesh’s BEXIMCO Pharmaceuticals Limited signed a trilateral Memorandum of Understanding to procure 3 crore doses of COVID-19 vaccine from Serum Institute of India (SII). Beximco Pharmaceuticals Limited is SII’s sole distributor in Bangladesh.
