Indian High Commissioner Pranay Verma has said that the “Shared Vision for Future” articulated by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi has given a new impetus to both bilateral and regional power trade.
The vision statement was issued during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s state visit to Delhi on June 21-22.
Speaking at a program, the envoy said with the shared vision statement, India and Bangladesh together commit to developing intra-regional electricity trade, including competitively-priced power generated from clean energy projects in India, Nepal and Bhutan, through the Indian electricity grid.
He was addressing a regional workshop on “Transforming Cross Border Electricity Trade and Regional Electricity Market for an Energy Secure South Asia” inaugurated on Monday.
India’s Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS), South Asia Group on Energy (SAGE-RIS) and USAID’s South Asia Regional Energy Partnership (SAREP) jointly organized the workshop.
PM Hasina, Modi endorse rare vision statement for Bangladesh, IndiaThe high commissioner emphasized that the robustness and integrated nature of the Indian grid, together with sophisticated platforms for power trading and exchanges existing in India, offer great opportunity to India’s neighbours to join with each other through the Indian grid for seamless cross-border electricity trade.
He described energy connectivity as a hallmark of transformative changes that have taken place in India-Bangladesh relations in the last decade, leading to the creation of a regional economy in the true sense.
This includes a new cross-border pipeline launched last year bringing high-speed diesel from an Indian refinery to Bangladesh; and the cross-border power transmission lines, bringing power not just from India to Bangladesh, but also facilitating power transmission from Nepal to Bangladesh through India, according to a statement.
High Commissioner Verma noted that regional electricity trade would mark a paradigm shift in how we approach energy security, economic growth, and environmental sustainability by leveraging the strengths and resources of different countries to optimize energy production and consumption.
