India, Bangladesh sign key infra MoUs
Railway link to Mongla Port on the anvil; river management and cooperation in space technology
Pic- GoI
India and Bangladesh have signed several Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) amid the visit of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to India. Both countries are looking to fortify their ties in terms of both economic development and security. Bangladesh is India’s largest trade partner in South Asia.
Among the projects was the unveiling of Maitree power plant in Khulna, Bangladesh, with India financing about 80% of the estimated cost of about US$2bn. The coal-based plant will provide 1,320 MW of electricity to Bangladesh.
Khulna is also home to an international port which could open the doors for trade with the north-eastern states of India, especially via Tripura, once connected.
The leaders also inaugurated the 5.13 km Rupsha rail bridge, a key part of the 64.7 km Khulna-Mongla Port single-track broad-gauge rail project, connecting for the first time Mongla Port with Khulna by rail, and thereafter to Central and North Bangladesh and also to the India border at Petrapole and Gede in West Bengal.
They also announced the Khulna Darshana railway line link project – doubling of broad gauge, linking the cross-border rail link at Gede-Darshana to Khulna, thereby augmenting the rail connections between the two countries, especially to Dhaka, but also in future to Mongla Port.
In the Parbatipur-Kaunia railway line, the conversion of metre gauge to dual gauge will connect to the existing cross-border rail at Birol (Bangladesh)-Radhikapur (West Bengal).
The MoUs included on withdrawal of water by India and Bangladesh from common border river Kushiyara – to benefit southern Assam; on scientific and technological cooperation; in the areas of space technology; and in broadcasting.
PM Narendra Modi said, “Our bilateral trade is growing rapidly. Today, India is the largest market in Asia for Bangladesh’s exports. To further accelerate this growth, we will soon start discussions on the Bilateral Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement.”
“We also decided to increase cooperation in sectors like IT, space and nuclear energy, which are of interest to our younger generations. We will also continue to cooperate on climate change and on preserving a common heritage like the Sundarbans,” he added.
PM Modi also spoke about radicalism that is a suppressed danger in Bangladesh. He said, “Today, we also stressed on cooperation against terrorism and radicalism. To keep the spirit of 1971 alive, it is also very important that we fight together such forces, which want to attack our mutual trust.”
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