Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has arrived India on an official visit. The visiting leader is likely to focus on water sharing, energy cooperation, uninterrupted commercial flow and greater connectivity.
Background –
- India-Bangladesh relationship rests on two pillars of India diplomacy – Neighbourhood First Policy and Act East.
- The spirit of friendship, understanding and mutual respect engendered during the liberation of Bangladesh continues to permeate different aspects of this relationship.
Issues to be discussed during the visit –
- River water sharing — India & Bangladesh share 54 transboundary rivers, big and small. River water sharing has been a contentious issue between these two countries.
- Ganga river dispute —
- In 1996, the sharing of the Ganga waters was successfully agreed upon.
- However, the major area of dispute has been India’s construction and operation of the Farakka Barrage to increase water supply to the river Hooghly.
- Bangladesh complains that it does not get a fair share of the water in the dry season and some of its areas get flooded when India releases excess waters during monsoon.
- Teesta River dispute —
- As per an agreement of 2011 the two sides had agreed to share the river’s water 50:50, the same as the 1996 Ganges water-sharing pact between the neighbours.
- This agreement was not signed due to opposition from Chief Minister of West Bengal.
- Repatriation of Rohingya refugees to Myanmar —
- More than a million refugees are living in camps in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazaar area, the burden of which has been weighing heavy on the country.
- India has supplied humanitarian aid to Bangladesh under ‘Operation Insaniyat’ for the Rohingya crisis. However, Bangladesh expects India to put pressure on Myanmar for repatriation of over a million of Rohingyas.
Status of trade –
- Bangladesh is India’s biggest trade partner in South Asia and India is the second biggest trade partner of Bangladesh.
- Bilateral trade between India and Bangladesh has grown steadily over the last decade and in the FY 2020-21, bilateral trade reached $10.17 billions. During this period, Bangladesh Export to India stood at $1.28 billion while import from India stood at $8.6 billion.
- Bangladesh’s exports to India, primarily ride on ready-made garments.
- India offered duty-free and quota free entry to Bangladesh goods under the (South Asian Free Trade Area) SAFTA agreement in 2011.
- However, after Bangladesh graduates from the Least Developed Country (LDC) status, it will no longer be able to avail this facility. United Nations approved Bangladesh to graduate LDC status by 2026.
- Hence, India and Bangladesh is considering signing a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA).
Connectivity –
- India-Bangladesh Friendship Bridge 1 (also known as Feni Bridge) has been constructed which will connect Tripura with Chittagong port of Bangladesh.
- A ship carrying cargo from Bhutan to Bangladesh was flagged off from Assam in July 2019. It sailed over river Brahmaputra and the Indo Bangladesh Protocol Route.
- This was the first time an Indian waterway is being used as a transit channel for transport of cargo between two countries.
- To boost sub-regional connectivity, Bangladesh-Bhutan-India-Nepal (BBIN) Motor Vehicles Agreement (MVA) was signed in June 2015.
- In March 2022, India, Bangladesh and Nepal finalised an enabling MoU for implementing the BBIN
Energy Cooperation –
- Energy cooperation between the two sides has also shown a lot of positivity. Indian state Tripura supplying a total of 160 MW of power to Bangladesh in addition to the 500 MW the country is receiving from West Bengal since 2013.
- In September 2018, Indian PM and his Bangladeshi counterpart jointly inaugurated the construction of a friendship pipeline project through video conferencing. The 130-kilometre India-Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline Project will connect Siliguri in West Bengal in India and Parbatipur in Dinajpur district of Bangladesh.
.png)