4 MoUs likely to be signed during Bangladesh-India PMs’ talk: Momen

ZOOMBANGLA DESK: Four Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) are likely to be signed during the upcoming virtual meeting of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina with her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi next month, BSS reports.

“It is likely as many as four MoUs are to be signed during the virtual meet .. but the MoUs are yet to be finalized,” Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen told BSS here today.

After the meeting, the foreign minister said, the two premiers may also inaugurate some projects those have already been completed under the Indian Line of Credit (LoC).

The virtual summit meeting between Prime Ministers of the two neighboring countries will take place in the third week of December, either on 16 or 17.

Dr Momen said Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen will visit New Delhi before the prime minister level talks for finalizing the agendas of the forthcoming meeting.

“We are thankful to India that their premier will talk to our honorable Prime Minister during our victory month as our victory is India’s victory as well,” he said.

Before the foreign ministerial level 6th Joint Consultative Commission (JCC) meeting in September last, Dr Momen had hinted that some bilateral agreements may be signed during the next meet of the two prime ministers.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Indian Premier Modi held last bilateral talks in New Delhi on October 5 last year.

The Indian premier was scheduled to visit this year to join birth centenary celebration of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman but the trip was cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic.

The foreign minister said Dhaka had invited Narendra Modi to visit here in person on March 26 to join the nation’s celebration of the 50 years of the independence.

“We’ve invited him (Narendra Modi) and they accepted the invitation in principle,” he said as Bangladesh and India will celebrate Bangladesh’s 50 years of independence together next year.

Earlier, newly appointed Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Vikram Doraiswami assured that the virtual Hasina-Modi summit in December is not being seen as a substitute for in person visit by the Indian Prime Minister here.

Currently, Bangladesh and India are enjoying excellent bilateral relations, termed as ‘golden chapter’ and ‘rock solid’ by leaders of both the countries.

On several occasions, Bangladesh foreign minister termed the Bangladesh-India ties as a ‘blood relation’ while he says, “Our development is India’s development . . . nothing can hinder this (Bangladesh-India) relation.”

New Delhi and Dhaka are also looking for holding the ministerial-level Joint Rivers Commission (JRC) meeting this year to discuss pending issues regarding water sharing of common rivers.

On November 5, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between Serum Institute of India and Beximco Pharma of Bangladesh for priority delivery of 30 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine to Bangladesh.

The two countries also established air connectivity under ‘air bubble arrangement’ amid the pandemic.