By IANS,
Dhaka: South Asia is set for greater connectivity with India on Saturday agreeing to allow Bangladesh rail transit to landlocked Nepal.
The announcement came after day-long foreign secretary-level talks when details of three agreements to be signed during a three-day India visit of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Dec 19 were discussed.
India has “responded positively” to giving Bangladesh railway transit to carry its products to Nepal, Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Mohammed Mijarul Quayes told media.
He said: “The India side has responded positively to giving us railway transit through three bordering points (Birol-Radhikapur, Rahanpur-Singhabad and Chilahati-Haldibari).”
The rail transit facility is part of a give-and-take in which India hopes to get access to Bangladeshi territory to reach out to its isolated north-eastern region.
Details of this access did not figure in the announcement by Quayes who held talks with his Indian counterpart Nirupama Rao here.
India needs the transit through Bangladeshi territory to open up its isolated northeast where seven states are bottled up. Lack of development and isolation have fanned militancy in some of them.
The three agreements are agreement for mutual legal assistance on criminal matters, agreement of transfer of sentenced persons, and the agreement on combating international terrorism, organised crimes and illegal drug trafficking, Star Online said.
Bangladesh and India have numerous bilateral problems and outstanding issues of which border problems, in particular shooting of Bangladeshi nationals engaged in illegal, night-time movements by the Indian border guard, Border Security Force (BSF) figured.
Quayes said he and the Indian foreign secretary agreed to resolve the outstanding border problems “as soon as possible”.
Issues that impinge on the internal security of the two neighbours also figured during the talks. India has for long accused Bangladesh of sheltering militants from its north-eastern region.
The situation has partially changed with Hasina government cooperating. Quayes said India “praised Bangladesh for its role in security related issues”.
A number of other bilateral issues between Bangladesh and India are on the table for the Hasina visit – beginning Dec 19 – that is considered crucial because of the friendly vibes between the Awami League and the Congress that rule in the two countries.
Quayes said that long-pending issues could be resolved at the summit level when Hasina meets Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh next month.
This would be the first visit to India by Hasina who returned to power in January after sweeping the poll Dec 29 last year.
Quayes said Bangladesh, as announced in a recent joint statement, would allow India to carry machinery to Tripura, its northeastern state to set up a power plant.
He said India would sell 250 megawatts of electricity produced at that power plant, to be located at Palatana.
Replying to a question on whether Bangladesh would give India multi-modal transit facilities via Ashuganj, Quayes cautiously replied: “There was no mention of declaring Ashuganj as a port of call in the joint statement”.