Dhaka will discuss the Teesta water-sharing agreement and Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) during the visit of Indian Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar next month.
“I invited him to come to Dhaka and it is a goodwill visit, but we will have a general discussion on all relevant bilateral issues,” Foreign Secretary M Shahidul Haque told the Dhaka Tribune.
The newly-appointed Indian Foreign Secretary will arrive in Dhaka on March 2 on an orientation trip of the region. His predecessor, Sujatha Singh, also came to Dhaka and visited other South Asian countries after assuming office in 2013.
Shahidul sent a congratulatory message and a flower bouquet after Jaishankar assumed office.
The Teesta agreement, LBA, border killings, trade, and connectivity are major issues of interest for the two countries.
Bangladesh and India were scheduled to sign a Teesta water-sharing deal in 2011, but due to strong resistance from West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, the talks fell through.
During a visit to Dhaka last week, Mamata sounded a positive note on the Teesta issue, but her overture coincides with the lowest recorded flow of water in the Teesta River.
Low flows from India, which is upriver, have caused serious damage to the irrigation system in the north of Bangladesh.
When asked about the Teesta agreement, the foreign secretary said Dhaka is engaged with New Delhi to seal the deal.
“We want to maintain a warm and cordial relationship with India and we have a set of institutional arrangements to move it forward,” Shahidul said.
Dhaka and New Delhi have a Joint Consultative Commission (JCC) in which both foreign ministers discuss all matters.
In addition to the foreign secretaries, the home secretaries, border guard chiefs, and other officials of the two countries discuss issues of common concern on a regular basis.
“We had the third JCC in New Delhi last September, and hope to have the next meeting this year in Dhaka,” the foreign secretary said.
Prior to the JCC, the foreign secretaries will meet to prepare the ground for their political bosses, he said.
A Bangladesh Foreign Ministry official, asking not to be named, said while the water and land boundary agreements were of prime importance for Bangladesh, security is India’s prime concern.
“Dhaka has addressed Indian concerns but New Delhi has not properly reciprocated,” he said.
"It will serve as a confidence-building measure if India delivers what it promises," he added.
Connectivity is another major issue both countries have an interest in, the official said.
“India wants to connect its northern states through Bangladesh, and Dhaka is also working in that regard,” he said.
Dhaka, in principle, has agreed with the idea but it wants to be compensated for the costs that would incur for providing the facility, he added.
India has long pressed Bangladesh to allow the movement of Indian freight and passengers from its mainland to the northeastern Indian states through Bangladesh territory.
