India has expressed interest in building and operating an airport in Bangladesh.
Indian Ambassador to Bangladesh Pranay Kumar Verma expressed this interest in a courtesy meeting with Civil Aviation Authority, Bangladesh (CAAB) Chairman Air Vice Marshal (AVM) M Mafidur Rahman on Tuesday morning.
The Indian envoy expressed his interest in providing training to Bangladesh's aviation sector personnel, increasing the capacity of existing airports, and building and operating new airports through Indian financing (line of credit).
During the meeting, mutual cooperation between the aviation sector of the two countries and cooperation in developing skilled manpower in the aviation sector of Bangladesh were discussed.
Currently 12 officers of CAAB are undergoing basic air traffic controller training in Allahabad, India. All expenses of the training are borne by the Government of India. CAAB chairman expressed his gratitude to the Government of India for this cooperation.
Air service agreements (ASA) between Bangladesh and India was executed in 1978. During the discussion, emphasis was placed on modernizing the existing aviation agreement between the two countries.
An MoU was proposed to be signed to enhance cooperation between the civil aviation training academies of the two countries. Besides, discussions were held on solving the outstanding issues related to air traffic control in the airspace of Bangladesh.
