Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen has said that purchasing surplus fuel from India will be discussed on Tuesday.
He also hoped that pre-signing procedures of seven MoUs will be completed by Monday night and will be handed over during bilateral talks between Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi the next day.
He was speaking to reporters after Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s meeting with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
The foreign secretary said water sharing issues, including of Teesta and Ganges rivers, may come up during Tuesday’s meeting.
Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen on Sunday said Bangladesh and India are likely to sign seven bilateral documents on water management, railway, science and technology, and information and broadcasting during Hasina's India visit.
Jaishankar, earlier Monday, met PM Hasina at her place of residence (ITC Maurya).
The foreign secretary said Dhaka wants more predictability on “strategic commodities” that Bangladesh needs.
He said the issue will be discussed on Tuesday so that India informs Bangladesh before taking any decision regarding export of essentials.
The foreign secretary said Jaishankar and PM Hasina discussed the Russia-Ukraine war that has created tremendous pressure on the world economy.
They discussed the enhancement of collaboration further to face the crisis jointly, he added.
Talking about purchasing Russian fuel, he said it is not true that Bangladesh cannot purchase oil from Russia but they are assessing the technical specifications to that end.
The foreign secretary said they are also looking into the medium for such transaction.
“We can get India’s surplus fuel, under favourable terms. We will, of course, consider that,” Masud Bin Momen said.
He said both Bangladesh and India placed their proposals to enhance the connectivity between the two countries.
Bangladesh said priority should be given to those projects that will ensure interests of Bangladesh, India, Bhutan and Nepal.
Talking about the grid connectivity, the foreign secretary said that there are issues of bringing electricity from Nepal and Bhutan while there is also the issue of taking electricity from one part of India to another.
Both the prime minister and the Indian External Affairs Minister expressed their hopes on this issue, he said.
Myanmar and Rohingya issues also came up for discussion as the Prime Minister talked about it.
She said there are some incidents in Myanmar’s Rakhine state and there is apprehension that these incidents might impact the return of Rohingyas to their homeland.
Jaishankar said that they are also witnessing some turmoil there and that is not good for anyone.