Preparations are underway for the signing of five MoUs.
 |
| Preparations are underway for the signing of five MoUs. |
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is coming to Delhi tomorrow Monday on a four-day visit. The summit meeting of the Prime Ministers of the two countries will be held on Tuesday. After the meeting, preparations are underway to sign five to seven Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) between the two countries. Two of these will be renewed. This information is known through diplomatic sources in Dhaka and Delhi.
On August 25, a ministerial meeting of the Joint River Commission of Bangladesh and India finalized a draft memorandum of understanding on the withdrawal of Kushiara river water flowing from India to Sylhet. Apart from Kushiara water withdrawal, four other MoUs have been finalized for signing.
A responsible official of Bangladesh told Prothom Alo that preparations are underway for the signing of the MoU on withdrawal of Kushiara river water, cooperation between the National Defense College of the two countries, cooperation between judicial authorities, modernization and capacity building of railways and cooperation in the information and communication technology sector.
Apart from this, two MoUs signed in the past on economic cooperation and national broadcasting authorities of the two countries will be renewed after this summit.
A diplomat who did not want to be named told this reporter that usually like other summit meetings, this time also some MoUs have been signed for some time. But additions and subtractions to the list continue till the last minute. Initially preparations were being made for signing and renewing 12 MoUs. So the work continued till the last minute.
The diplomat also said that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is expected to sign a memorandum of understanding with India's multinational company GMR during her visit to Delhi to import hydropower from Nepal. Apart from this, the Prime Ministers of the two countries can inaugurate the bridge built over the Rupsa River in Khulna through video conference.
According to the diplomatic sources of this country, issues like energy, supply of daily necessities, water distribution and connectivity will get importance this time.Aside from that, the two Prime Ministers will talk about how to keep and expand security and defense cooperation.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will reach Delhi in the early part of the day tomorrow Monday. Then sometime in the afternoon, Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will come to pay a courtesy call on him at the hotel.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will be given a guard of honor at Rashtrapati Bhavan in India on Tuesday morning. After that, the Prime Minister of Bangladesh will visit Rajghat to pay his respects to Mahatma Gandhi. From there he will go to Hyderabad House in Delhi.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bangladesh Prime Minister will meet there privately and at delegation level. After that, the listed agreements and MoUs will be signed in the presence of the two Prime Ministers. In the afternoon, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will pay a courtesy call on Indian President Draupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan in Delhi and later on Indian Vice President Jagdeep Dhankar.
The Prime Minister will address an exchange meeting with India's top businessmen on September 7. The Prime Minister of Bangladesh will hand over the scholarships to the family members of Indians who participated in the liberation war through a ceremony at noon that day. He will visit Ajmer Sharif Dargah in Rajasthan on September 8. After visiting the shrine there, the Prime Minister will leave for Dhaka that afternoon.
