Four MoUs likely between India, Bangladesh in December during Modi-Hasina summit

NEW DELHI:  India and Bangladesh will sign four memorandum of understandings during the virtual summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina in mid-December.

According to sources, the summit is likely to be held on December 17 before which Bangladesh foreign secretary Masud bin Momen is expected to visit New Delhi and hold talks with top officials including Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla.

The meeting is likely to put India Bangladesh relations back on track after they were hit by concerns raised in the neighbouring country over the National Register of Citizens and the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, a process that was seen to start following Shringla’s visit to Dhaka.

Dhaka has also invited the prime minister to be a part of the celebrations marking 50 years of Bangladeshi independence.

Modi was scheduled to visit Bangladesh in March to join celebrations marking the birth centenary of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman but the trip was called off because of the pandemic. 

India had provided 10 railway locomotives to Bangladesh in July. Earlier, the first ever container train reached Bangladesh and a shipment was sent from Kolkata to Tripura via the Chattogram Port.

The two sides also are setting up a new mechanism to review progress on bilateral projects, including an oil pipeline and three cross-border rail links, expected to be completed next year. 

On November 5, an MoU was signed between the Serum Institute of India and Beximco Pharma of Bangladesh for priority delivery of 30 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine to Bangladesh.

In October last year, Hasina had visited India and held talks with her counterpart.