Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday held bilateral talks with Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in New Delhi.
India and Bangladesh also signed seven agreements and Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Sheikh Hasina inaugurated five joint projects.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday held bilateral talks with Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in New Delhi.
Hasina is on a four-day visit of India that began on Monday. The visit is expected to touch issues of water management, railway, science and technology, and information and broadcasting. On business side, issues related to investment, enhanced trade relations, and power and energy sector cooperation are likely to have figured in talks between Hasina and Modi.
Speaking beside Hasina at a press conference after their talks, Modi said that India and Bangladesh should jointly face terrorist and fundamentalist forces that threaten to attack mutual trust between the two countries.
"Today we also stressed on cooperation against terrorism and fundamentalism. To keep the spirit of 1971 alive, it is also very necessary that we face such forces together, who want to attack our mutual trust," said said.
Hasina made a strong pitch for early conclusion of the Teesta water sharing agreement. Modi noted that 54 rivers pass through the borders of India and Bangladesh and are linked to the livelihoods of the people of both the countries for centuries.
"I recall that the two countries have resolved many issues in the spirit of friendship and cooperation. We hope that all outstanding issues, including Teesta water sharing agreement, will be concluded as an early date," Hasina said.
India and Bangladesh signed seven memorandums of understanding (MoUs) after the talks between Modi and Hasina, including one on sharing of waters of Kushiyara river which is expected to benefit the regions of southern Assam and Bangladesh's Sylhet region.
Last month, India and Bangladesh finalised the text of the agreement on interim sharing of the water of the Kushiyara river. The text of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) was finalised at the 38th ministerial-level meeting of the India-Bangladesh Joint Rivers Commission (JRC) that took place in Delhi on August 25.
The seven agreements are:
Besides the seven agreements that India and Bangladesh signed, Modi and Hasina also inaugurated five bilateral projects:
These projects are spread across the sectors of power, physical infrastructure, and connectivity.
(With PTI inputs)