Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi shaking hands with Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina during a bilateral meeting in New York.
By Mizan Rahman/Dhaka
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said he is “serious about resolving the issues like the Teesta water treaty and land boundary agreement (LBA) with Bangladesh.
Modi said this during a meeting with his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina at New York Palace hotel on Saturday.
“I’m very much serious, I’m searching for ways to resolve these issues,” Modi said as Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina raised the pending issues during the meeting.
Foreign secretary Shahidul Haque briefed reporters after the meeting.
The foreign secretary said PM Hasina told Modi that there are some issues remained unresolved between the two neighbouring countries, and wanted quick
solution to those.
Hasina invited her Indian counterpart to visit Bangladesh at his convenient time. In reply, Modi said he was looking for an opportunity. “I’ll visit Bangladesh very soon, our officers are working on this issue and hope they’ll find a day for the visit,” he said.
The foreign secretary said at the meeting, the Indian PM assured Hasina that New Delhi will always remain with Bangladesh for its development.
About regional co-operation and development, Hasina said the potentials that exist in the South Asian regions will have to be harnessed together.
Agreeing with Hasina, Modi said, “We’ll have to ensure development all together. The word of making development together comes prominently in my ‘Look East Policy’.
Hasina, in this connection, mentioned that the Bangladesh, China, India, Myanmar (BCIM) Economic Corridor, and called for removing the barriers that exist in the connectivity among Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan.
In this regard, the Indian Prime Minister assured Hasina of resolving these problems and asked the officials accompanying him to take steps to this end.
Modi also stressed the need for promoting religious tourism in the region and launching a Saarc satellite.
The Indian PM again lauded the dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Hasina, saying that Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman founded Bangladesh, while his daughter saved the country.
The two leaders also agreed to root out terrorism from the region, saying that there will be no development unless terrorism is eliminated.
