By IANS,
New Delhi: As Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina arrived here Sunday on her maiden visit, India said her trip offered a “historic opportunity” to build “a new and forward-looking relationship” and hoped that its security concerns would be addressed.
Signalling a new spring in their bilateral ties, India and Bangladesh will ink five agreements, including three counter-terror related pacts, and one on power-sharing.
Accompanied by her senior ministers and a large business delegation, Sheikh Hasina arrived here Sunday night on a three-day visit, her first trip to the country after sweeping the December 2008 polls.
Hasina will also go to Ajmer, home to the shrine of a much-revered Sufi saint. She was received warmly at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here by Minister of State for External Affairs Preneet Kaur and Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will hold wide-ranging talks with Sheikh Hasina Monday. The two sides will sign five crucial treaties, including those on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters, mutual transfer of convicted prisoners, on fight against international terrorism, organised crime and illegal drug trafficking.
Besides signing accords on power cooperation and a cultural exchange programme, India is set to announce a $500 million line of credit to promote infrastructure development in Bangladesh and a decision to facilitate a rail transit link from Bangladesh to Nepal.
Other important items on the summit agenda include the sharing of river waters, the resolution of the maritime border dispute and the promotion of bilateral trade and connectivity.
The three security-related pacts will enable New Delhi to press for the extradition of suspected insurgents from its northeastern states that have taken shelter in Bangladeshi territory. The prisoner exchange deal is expected to formalise the extradition process between the two countries.
Sheikh Hasina will be conferred the prestigious Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development Tuesday and Manmohan Singh will host a banquet dinner in her honour.
Setting a positive tone for Sheikh Hasina’s visit, Foreign Secretary Rao said minutes before her arrival that the visit of the Bangladesh prime minister “promises to be a path-breaking one and gives both countries a historic opportunity to build a new and forward looking relationship.”
Underlining a new trust and optimism in bilateral ties that had drifted under the previous Khaleda Zia dispensation, Rao said: “India is committed to working with the government of Bangladesh to build on our historical and traditionally close links and open new vistas in our bilateral relations.”
Signalling New Delhi’s resolve to address issues close to Dhaka’s heart, Rao said: “India remains committed to provide substantial assistance to Bangladesh to become a major partner in its economic development.”
“We are addressing an entire range of developmental issues of direct interest to Bangladesh, including railway infrastructure, transportation, dredging, power grid inter-connectivity, human resource development and investment and trade,” Rao added.
Noting Bangladesh’s happiness at India’s decision to provide it transit facility to Nepal and Bhutan through its territory, Rao said: “India too will seek Bangladesh’s understanding and cooperation on our security and connectivity needs.”
“We seek to revive those physical and emotional links which remained disrupted since Independence,” said Rao.
Expanding security cooperation will be top of the agenda. Both India and Bangladesh have given a list of their fugitives to each other. The two sides are expecting a forward movement in this area during the visit, reliable sources said.
The two neighbours will also sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on expanding power cooperation that will include building inter-grid connectivity. It will facilitate import and export of electricity amounting to over 900 million units per annum, depending on availability, need and price.
India’s relations with Bangladesh had suffered under the previous Khaleda Zia regime in Dhaka over a host of issues, including the alleged sheltering of insurgent leaders by Dhaka.
In a major confidence-building measure, Bangladeshi authorities “pushed back” in December one of India’s most wanted fugitives, Arabinda Rajkhowa, chairman of the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), the outfit’s deputy commander-in-chief Raju Baruah and his senior aides through the India-Bangladesh border at Dawki in the northeastern state of Meghalaya.