India and Bangladesh have decided to chalk out a “forward-looking roadmap” which aims to make the progress achieved in the bilateral relations as “irreversible”. They also decided to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Bangladesh liberation in 2021.
These are among the key takeaways of Bangladesh Foreign minister A K Abdul Momen’s visit to India and meetings with External Affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The two sides signed four pacts between the two countries, including on traditional medicine, training of civil servants, a special economic zone at Mongla port and another one between the CBI and the Anti Corruption Commission.
A joint statement said that the Foreign ministers tasked the officials to develop a forward looking roadmap for bilateral cooperation to make the partnership irreversible. In particular, they desired that partnership-building efforts should be enhanced in a manner commensurate with commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Bangladesh’s Liberation, it said.
Swaraj expressed appreciation for the humanitarian gesture of Bangladesh in supporting a large number of displaced persons from the Rakhine region of Myanmar and assured the Foreign Minister of India’s continued support for “safe, speedy and sustainable return of the displaced persons to Myanmar”.
Foreign Minister A.K. Abdul Momen conveyed the gratitude of Government of Bangladesh for the humanitarian assistance provided by India in four tranches since September 2017 to help meet the requirements of the displaced persons from Myanmar.
The two Ministers agreed on the need to expedite safe and sustainable repatriation of the displaced people from Rakhine State of Myanmar.
