By IANS,
New Delhi : Ahead of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s trip here later this year, India and Bangladesh will hold talks Tuesday on sensitive issues like the contentious Tipaimukh hydroelectric project and discuss steps to invigorate trade and combat terrorism.
Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dipu Moni arrived here Monday on a four-day visit – her first official visit to New Delhi after Sheikh Hasina rode to power in Dhaka following a landslide victory in December polls last year.
External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna will hold talks with Moni on a wide range of issues that are expected to build greater trust between the two neighbours and set a positive stage for Sheikh Hasina’s state visit to India later this year.
Moni will also call on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and meet Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.
During the talks, Krishna is expected to allay Bangladesh’ concerns over the Tipaimukh project that is located near the confluence of the Barak and Tuivai rivers in India’s Manipur.
India has already made it clear that there will be absolutely no diversion of water, a fear voiced by the anti-dam lobby in Bangladesh. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has sought to use the dam issue to stoke anti-India sentiments.
Issues like border management, infiltration, illegal migration, sharing of river waters and terrorism will also figure prominently in the discussions.
Combating terrorism in the region will be another important theme.
New Delhi is expected to press Dhaka to deport anti-India insurgents like United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) chief Anup Chetia who are said to be in Bangladesh.
India is optimistic that the Sheikh Hasina government, which is not dependent on political support from hardline Islamist parties as the previous regime was, will take credible action in this regard.
Moni’s trip comes at a time when India’s relationship with Bangladesh, beset by years of mistrust over Dhaka’s alleged patronage of anti-India insurgents and widening trade deficit, is showing signs of improvement.
Moni is likely to press for more trade concessions from New Delhi when she meets Mukherjee. The widening trade deficit has been a sore point with Dhaka.
When Mukherjee visited Dhaka in February 2009, he announced important unilateral initiatives like providing duty-free access to eight million pieces of ready garments, lifting a ban on the foreign direct investment (FDI) in Bangladesh and duty-free access to several items from Bangladesh.
Dhaka is keen that New Delhi further removes trade barriers that could enable it to step up exports to India’s seven landlocked northeastern states.