Modi to visit Bangladesh this month, will launch more trading points, connectivity projects

BY S. VENKAT NARAYAN,

Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI:

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Dhaka on March 26-27 for the centenary celebrations of Sheikh Mujibur Rehman, the father of the nation, the 50th anniversary of the birth of Bangladesh, and five decades of diplomatic ties between India and Bangladesh.

 Among the key takeaways from the visit are the launch of more border trading points between the two contiguous neighbours and connectivity projects linking India and Bangladesh.

Ahead of Modi’s visit, External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar visited Dhaka last Thursday to firm up the agenda and possible deliverables, according to three people familiar with the matter.

Bangladesh is currently India’s biggest trade partner in South Asia. India’s exports to Bangladesh in FY2018-19 stood at $ 9.21 billion and imports from Bangladesh during the same period were $1.04 billion.

Bangladesh marks Modi’s first visit abroad after a year when the Covid-19 pandemic brought all physical trips and meetings to a halt. This underlines the special place the eastern neighbour occupies in New Delhi’s “neighbourhood first” policy.

Ties with Dhaka have been described by officials as the “vital cog” in the “neighbourhood first” initiative. Dhaka is India’s biggest development partner in South Asia. New Delhi extended three lines of credit worth $8 billion in the past eight years for development of roads, railways, shipping, ports and other infrastructure.

 Modi will inaugurate more “border haats” or trading markets. Last week, Bangladesh High Commissioner to India Muhammad Imran visited Assam and Meghalaya. In Meghalaya, he discussed the possibility of opening up new trading points along their common border. There are already four such points each in Meghalaya and Tripura.