Indian finance minister in Dhaka on 3-day official visit

Indian Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister Arun Jaitley arrived in Dhaka this afternoon on a three-day official visit at the invitation of Finance Minister AMA Muhith.

Muhith received his Indian counterpart at about 2:30 pm at Bangabandhu Air Base at Kurmitola in the city, a finance ministry official told BSS here today.

Jaitley is being accompanied by Subhash Chandra Garg, secretary of Department of Economic Affairs under the Indian Ministry of Finance, and other senior officials of Indian government.

A 30-member high-level business delegation from the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) is also accompanying the finance and corporate affairs minister of India.

The Indian minister will join a meeting with the delegation of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) at 5:30 pm.

He will also hold bilateral meeting with his Bangladesh counterpart AMA Muhith tomorrow morning.

The Dollar Credit Line Agreement for implementation of the third Line of Credit is expected to be signed in the presence of the Ministers of Finance of India and Bangladesh tomorrow.

During the visit of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to India in April 2017, the Indian Line of Credit of US$ 4.5 billion was announced for Bangladesh.

This will bring the total quantum of credit lines extended by India to Bangladesh over the last six years to US$ 8 billion. Signing of the Third Dollar Credit Line Agreement will enable the implementation of a number of key infrastructure priority projects of Bangladesh.

Furthermore, the Joint Interpretive Notes on the agreement between the two countries will also be signed in the presence of the two ministers.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will also attend an event to be organized tomorrow by the Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh and the High Commission of India, on the subject of 'Macroeconomic Initiatives of the Government of India'.

As India and Bangladesh have witnessed deepening of bilateral economic cooperation in recent years, particularly in terms of increasing volumes of trade and investment flows, the two ministers are expected to review the status of economic cooperation and development partnership initiatives taken during the visit of the Prime Minster of India Shri Narendra Modi to Bangladesh in June 2015 and the Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina to India in April 2017, said the Indian High Commission.

The Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs of India along with the Finance Minister of Bangladesh will jointly inaugurate a new scheme for cashless transactions in visa services run by the State Bank of India on behalf of the High Commission of India. The two ministers will also inaugurate the Dhaka representative office of the EXIM Bank of India.

Jaitley will leave Dhaka on Thursday.