The government is toying with two dates to hold the third foreign minister level meeting to be held in New Delhi where Teesta deal, ratification of Land Boundary Agreement and other thorny issues between the two countries, will also be discussed in details.
“Two dates – one in August and another one in September – have been proposed,” a senior official of the Foreign Ministry told the Dhaka Tribune. “We will select the date considering convenience of both parties.”
Dhaka and New Delhi decided to hold the meeting at the soonest during the goodwill visit of Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj to Dhaka in June.
The official said: “Departure from the regular practice, we will not hold foreign secretary level talks this time.”
Before the first two Joint Consultative Commission meetings at foreign minister level, the foreign secretaries held talks and hammered out the agenda for the meetings of their superiors.
“New governments have taken over in both the countries and this meeting will set the tone for future cooperation,” the official said.
Sushma chose Bangladesh as her first standalone foreign trip and it showed a good gesture from the newly-elected BJP government, he said.
She first came to Dhaka to understand the attitude of the government and the people of the predominantly Muslim nation – Bangladesh – towards the Hindu-leaning BJP government, he added.
The Narendra Modi-led government has a big vision to revive the Saarc region and they did not feel shy in sharing their ideas about how Bangladesh fits in the vision, the official said.
Sushma at a lecture in Dhaka on June 26 said: “Building a comprehensive and equitable partnership with Bangladesh is essential for the realisation of our vision of a stable, secure and prosperous South Asia.”
Teesta agreement
Before her visit to Dhaka, the Indian foreign minister had talks with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and hinted that the latter was positive about the Teesta water-sharing.
India notified Bangladesh that New Delhi had already started to work with all stakeholders to build internal consensus to get it through soon, the official said.
Bangladesh and India have been negotiating on the Teesta water sharing agreement for four decades and was scheduled to sign in 2011 during the visit of then Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, but it could not be inked due to strong opposition from Mamata.
LBA
The immediate past Congress-led Indian government had placed a bill to amend the constitution in the Rajya Sabha to pave the way for the ratification of land boundary agreement, but it was opposed by the then opposition BJP on the grounds that it would not support quick ratification of the LBA.
“But this time, they are in power and we hope that they will not oppose,” the ministry official said.
The issue has been pending for four decades and the new Indian government must prove that they are sincere in resolving the boundary dispute, he said.
Bangladesh and India signed the LBA in 1974 and Dhaka ratified it in the same year, but New Delhi is yet to do so.