By IANS,
Dhaka : A two-day conference here will focus on Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s Bangladesh visit and take stock of the progress made so far in bilateral ties that were clouded by their failure to sign the Teesta river sharing accord.
The Sep 17-18 post-Prime Ministerial Summit Conference is being jointly organized by the Centre for Alternatives, Dhaka, and the Academy of International Studies (Bangladesh Studies Programme), Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi.
Manmohan Singh’s visit, the first by an Indian prime minister in 12 years, helped resolve a festering boundary row and saw both countries inking pacts on various issues other than the Teesta and transit agreements that both were banking on.
About 100 experts from India and Bangladesh will throw light on Track I and Track II diplomacy, trade, technology and investment, media, water and environmental security, India, Bangladesh and the regional dimension and regional connectivity and security.
The conference hopes to reinvent India-Bangladesh relations in an age of globalization where connectivity is a key to development and peace as well as revive mutual interests, threats and opportunities between these two countries on specific issues, the conference concept note said.
The inaugural session will see Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Mijarul Quayes in the chair and opening remarks by Prof Imtiaz Ahmed and Prof Veena Sikri, both co-chairpersons of the conference. Sikri has been India’s high commissioner to Bangladesh.