Dhaka for fresh line of credit

Appreciating India's financial assistance for infrastructure development in Bangladesh, Dhaka yesterday asked New Delhi to consider a fresh line of credit (LoC).

During the third Joint Consultative Commission (JCC) meeting at Jawahar Bhavan in New Delhi, Bangladesh also offered special economic zones for Indian businesses and sought investments in sectors like automobiles, manufacturing and power. The meeting was co-chaired by Bangladesh Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali and his Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj.

Following Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's landmark visit to New Delhi in January 2010, India extended the first LoC of $1 billion to Bangladesh for a range of projects that included railway infrastructure development, supply of locomotives and passenger coaches, renovation of Saidpur railway workshop, procurement of passenger vehicles including articulated buses, and river dredging.

India later wrote off $200 million of the $1 billion credit as grant.

"We are expanding our cooperation in diverse areas. Bangladesh wants to be India's number one friend," Mahmood Ali said at a press conference at Taj Mansingh Hotel yesterday, wrapping up his four-day visit during which he met top Indian leaderships including President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Bangladsesh would offer land to Indian companies to set up exclusive economic zones, he added.

However, the foreign minister-level talks that concluded yesterday saw no headway in the longstanding issues of the Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) and the Teesta water sharing deal, reports our New Delhi correspondent.

Despite this, Ali said, "We are very happy about the outcome of the JCC".

He also said that he was not disappointed at the fact that no headway was made on the Teesta and the LBA issues.

"We understand the problems and hope that something will come up ... things will happen and relations between the two countries are on an upswing," he said.

The minister said during his meeting with opposition Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad yesterday, he had raised both the issues. "We have been assured that all political parties and people of India are in it together."

Asked whether this included Mamata Banerjee's West Bengal government, Ali said, "Everyone is a partner in enhancing cooperation between Bangladesh and India".

The foreign minister said Bangladesh was hopeful about early signing of the pacts.

"If the political relationship is good, then everything will fall into place … Everything is actually falling into place," he added.

Asked when jailed ULFA leader Anup Chetia will be extradited to India, Mahmood Ali refused to give a timeframe but said it would take place "soon".

On reports claiming money from Saradha chit fund scam in West Bengal found its way to Jamaat-e-Islami in Bangladesh, the minister said his government did not have any information about it.

At the press conference, Indian foreign ministry spokesperson Syed Akabaruddin said the water sharing was a "sensitive" issue that needs to be addressed in a manner that would be fair, equitable, and have no negative impact on any of the parties.

The LBA matter has been referred to the new members of the relevant standing committee of the Indian parliament. Indian parliament has to clear a constitution amendment bill to make the LBA operational, he said.

The spokesperson said India has offered expertise in the civil nuclear and the outer space sectors and will now await specific proposals from the Bangladeshi side.

A 36-point joint statement issued after the 3rd JCC meeting said, "The ratification process following the signing of the Protocol to the Land Boundary Agreement, 1974 was underway.”

"The two ministers reiterated their commitment to finalising the interim agreement for sharing of the waters of the Teesta and the Feni rivers.”

In the statement, the Indian side reiterated its earlier commitment that it would not take any unilateral decision on the proposed River Interlinking project that may adversely affect Bangladesh.

Both sides agreed that the border killing should be brought down to a zero level.

On power sector, both ministers expressed satisfaction at the pace of work on the Bangladesh-India Friendship Power Company's 1320MW coal-fired power plant at Rampal.

The Indian external affairs minister in the statement welcomed Bangladesh's assurance that its soil will not be allowed to be used for terrorism against any country, particularly India.

On Thursday, Foreign Minister Ali had said Dhaka would seek reassurance from New Delhi that Indian territories will not be allowed for any terrorist activities against Bangladesh.

But no such assurances came from New Delhi to stop terrorist activities on its soil against Bangladesh.

Referring to his meeting with Narendra Modi on Friday, Ali said he was touched the way Modi hailed the contribution of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his daughter and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to Bangladesh.

"When I briefly recounted the history of Bangladesh after the killing of Bangabandhu and the return of Sheikh Hasina, Prime Minister Modi responded by saying Bangabandhu had created the country and his daughter Sheikh Hasina saved it," he said.

Ali said the relationship between the two countries was "forged in the blood that we shed together during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War."