Indian High Commissioner Pankaj Saran has said Bangladesh and India are discussing whole concept of connectivity as the concept of transit has become old fashioned.
He said: “The concept of connectivity is now becoming broader. It is growing beyond the old fashioned concept of transit, which used to be discussed between India and Bangladesh.”
The Indian envoy made the statement after a meeting with Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed at the secretariat on Thursday.
He said: “Connectivity can be in the form of power, telecom, water and many other areas and it has direct benefit for Bangladesh and India.”
“These are the issues we are all now looking at and we are hopeful that we can make some progress,” he added.
About BCIM corridor, he said it has official policy now as a meeting was held on the issue in Kunming in the last December.
“This is another interesting area of cooperation in the future,” Pankaj said.
Taking about trade, the envoy said Bangladesh’s exports to India had reached $560m last year but it was not enough.
India viewed that to decrease the trade gap, more Indian private investment should come to Bangladesh.
“If we can have more Indian private investment then that it will help to create jobs and also help in increasing Bangladesh’s export into the neighbouring countries, into India,” he said.
He also emphasised on border infrastructure.
