Delhi
Dhaka, Delhi plan exchange of visits eying Dec 6, 16 mega events
Bangladesh and India are working together eyeing two mega events next month - Maitri Diwas and Victory Day of Bangladesh - on December 6 and December 16 respectively with exchange of high-level visits, officials said.
Bangladesh is celebrating the Golden Jubilee of its Independence and the birth centenary of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
Bangladesh and India decided to commemorate December 6 as Maitri Diwas (Friendship Day), the day when India recognized Bangladesh in 1971.
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Indian President Ram Nath Kovind is likely to visit Bangladesh on December 16 and 17 at the invitation of his Bangladesh counterpart Abdul Hamid to attend the Victory Day celebrations apart from his other key engagements, said a diplomatic source, adding that the two sides are working to give it a final shape.
If it is confirmed, this will be the first visit by the 14th President of India to Bangladesh as he was sworn in on 25 July, 2017.
On March 26 to 27, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid a state visit to Bangladesh from 26 to 27 March 2021 to join the celebrations of the Golden Jubilee of the Independence of Bangladesh, the birth centenary of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and 50 years of establishment of diplomatic relations between India and Bangladesh.
The visit symbolised the partnership of half a century between Bangladesh and India that has strengthened, matured and evolved as a model for bilateral relations for the entire region, both sides reconized.
During the visit, the Prime Minister of India called on President Abdul Hamid. Modi laid a wreath at the National Martyrs’ Memorial at Savar as a mark of respect to the memory and contribution of the great freedom fighters of Bangladesh.
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He also paid rich tribute and respect to the memory of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at the Bangabandhu Mausoleum in Tungipara, Gopalganj.
To cherish this landmark day in history – December 6 -, the government of Bangladesh and the government of India are jointly organizing a “Logo and Backdrop” designing competition.
The logo and backdrop are to represent the spirit of the Bangladesh Liberation War, the ideology and vision of the Bangladeshi struggle, and the spirit of fraternity and solidarity extended to this struggle by the people of India, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The contest is open to all the citizens of India and Bangladesh, resident in respective countries or anywhere in the world. The last date for accepting entries has been extended up to November 13.
Dhaka, Delhi optimistic about increased LoC utilisation
Bangladesh and India have expressed optimism that the utilization rate of Lines of Credit (LoCs) extended to Bangladesh by India is set to increase significantly in the near future.
With the award of more than US$ 990.85 million worth of contracts under the LoCs during the past three years, and another US$ 325.58 million being finalized within the next few months, the two sides hope it will create new opportunities for shared development of the region and mutual benefits.
Bangladesh and India have noted considerable improvement in the speed of projects reaching execution or ending stage under the LoCs.
It has been made possible with the active cooperation of the project-implementing agencies of both sides and the extensive coordination efforts between the Economic Relations Division (ERD) and the High Commission.
The 19th Bangladesh-India LoC review meeting was held in Dhaka on October 27-28 to review the progress of 43 projects being taken up for implementation under GoI Lines of Credit (LoCs).
READ: Bangladesh's Delhi mission plants 100 saplings on Sheikh Russel's birthday
Sridharan Madhusudhanan, Joint Secretary (DPA-I), Ministry of External Affairs, government of India led the Indian delegation and the Bangladesh delegation was led by Md Shahriar Kader Siddiky, Additional Secretary, ERD, Ministry of Finance, government of Bangladesh.
Representatives of Indian companies executing the LoC projects in Bangladesh also participated in the meeting.
The India-Bangladesh development partnership has grown significantly in recent years, said the Indian High Commission in Dhaka.
Four LoCs worth US$ 7.862 billion had been extended to Bangladesh for undertaking important infrastructure development projects in a wide array of sectors.
The total disbursements as of October 25, 2021 are approximately US$ 865 million.
Under the first LoC of US$ 862 million, 12 out of 15 projects have already been completed and three projects are under execution.
Under the second LoC of US$ 2 billion, two projects are already complete and the other projects are under various stages of implementation. Under the third LoC of US$ 4.5 billion, one project has reached the execution stage, while the other projects are under various stages of DPP finalisation and tendering.
During the LoC review meeting, both sides expressed satisfaction with the robust cooperation on LoC projects.
The two delegation heads appreciated the fact that all stakeholders on the LoC projects are in constant touch, holding frequent and detailed review meetings, and are making every effort for the expeditious execution of projects.
A detailed discussion was held, Line Ministry-wise, to review project progress. The existing issues with project implementation and possible resolution mechanisms were identified.
Detailed timelines were determined for all the steps involved in project implementation.
The two sides agreed that the LoC review mechanism is an ideal platform to monitor the progress of projects, understand and remove procedural bottlenecks and ensure timely implementation.
The successful implementation of projects under GoI LoCs and the continuous engagement of the two countries on ongoing and proposed projects underlines the commitment of both sides for creating new opportunities for shared development of the region and mutual benefits.
Both the delegation heads recalled that the importance of bilateral cooperation between Bangladesh and India, utilizing the LoCs, was highlighted by the Prime Minister of India during the virtual Summit held with the Prime Minister of Bangladesh on December 17, 2020.
Prior to the LoC review meeting, the Indian delegation comprising MEA officials from Delhi, High Commission of India officials and Exim Bank of India officials visited the LoC project site for the Power Evacuation facilities of the Rooppur Nuclear Power plant, the Ashuganj Inland River Port project site as well as the Ashuganj-Sarail-Dharkhar-Akhaura Road project site.
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The delegation met all the stakeholders involved in project implementation and detailed discussions were held to review the project progress and resolve the impediments to the project progress.
It was agreed that the 20th bilateral LoC review meeting would be held in Delhi in April 2022.
Bangladesh's Delhi mission plants 100 saplings on Sheikh Russel's birthday
The Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi Monday celebrated the 58th birth anniversary of Sheikh Russel, the youngest son of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, through various programmes.
A hundred saplings were planted in the embassy premises. Embassy officials led by Bangladesh High Commissioner to India Muhammad Imran joined the programme.
READ: Bangladesh's Delhi mission plants 100 saplings on Sheikh Russel's birthday
Also, High Commissioner Imran, along with the members of the mission, placed a wreath at the portrait of Bangabandhu and Sheikh Russel in the chancery building.
Dhaka, Delhi for quick completion of ‘Bangabandhu’ movie
Bangladesh and India have agreed to fast track the completion of “Bangabandhu”, a biopic on Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, as it is expected to be released globally in March 2022.
Indian Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Singh Thakur held a meeting with a delegation of Bangladesh led by Information and Broadcasting Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud in New Delhi on Tuesday and discussed the issue.
They discussed matters of mutual interests to further the strong ties between the two countries in areas of broadcasting and entertainment, strengthen people-to-people contact and explore the potential of soft-power interface between the two countries.
Also read: Info Minister for strengthening Dhaka-Delhi people-to-people ties
Biman to resume flights to Delhi and Kolkata from Aug 22
Biman Bangladesh Airlines has announced a new schedule to operate flights from Dhaka to India from August 22 (Sunday).
Flights will operate on the Dhaka-Delhi route two days a week - Sundays and Wednesdays.
On Dhaka-Kolkata route it will fly three days a week - Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, said a media release on Wednesday.
The state-of-the-art Dash 8-400 aircraft manufactured by Canada's De Haviland will be used on the Dhaka to Delhi and Kolkata routes.
READ: Biman temporarily closes online ticketing
These new aircraft have HEPA filter technology that will make the indoor air bacteria, viruses and other germs free in just four minutes.
Passengers must undergo RT/PCR (Covid test) within 72 hours of boarding the flight and must follow hygiene rules, the release said.
READ: Two Biman chartered flights take off with stuck students, expat workers
Tickets for these routes can be collected through any of Biman's sales offices, Biman Call Center - 01990 996 996 and authorized travel agencies.
Dhaka, Delhi need much stronger framework for future economic ties: Debapriya
Distinguished Fellow at the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya has said Bangladesh and India need a “much more robust framework” for their future economic relationship and a change in the framework is important to make that happen.
The macroeconomist and public policy analyst said the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), now on the table, needs to be coherent, dynamic and inclusive to address the challenges ahead and help boost trade and investment between the two countries.
“CEPA has to be coherent, dynamic and inclusive. CEPA is the name of the game,” said Debapriya highlighting Bangladesh-India relations on three fronts -- leftover, built-in and emerging issues.
Also read: New conversation on int'l dev cooperation needed: Debapriya
The former Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the World Trade Organization (WTO) made the remarks while delivering his speech at a symposium titled ‘Bangladesh-India Relations: Prognosis for the Future’ held recently.
Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Vikram Kumar Doraiswami delivered the keynote speech at the symposium. Renowned scholar-diplomat and adviser on foreign affairs to the last caretaker government Dr Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury chaired the event hosted by the Cosmos Foundation, philanthropic arm of the Cosmos Group.
Chairman of the Cosmos Foundation Enayetullah Khan delivered the opening remarks at the event.
An array of experts from Bangladesh and India -- former Ambassador Tariq A. Karim, Director, Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore Prof C. Raja Mohan, Dhaka University Prof Imtiaz Ahmed, former Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty, Bangladesh Institute of Peace and Security Studies (BIPSS) President Maj Gen (retd) A. N. M. Muniruzzaman, CPD Executive Director Dr Fahmida Khatun, Brig. Gen. (retd) Shahedul Anam Khan and former Indian Foreign Secretary Krishnan Srinivasan -- were brought together for the online symposium to assess the state of relations between the two countries and identify the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead in the effort to take it forward.
The noted economist said the leftover issues are very well known to all -- water, border security issues and others which will have to deal with successfully.
He said the built-in issues are essentially the trade, investment, connectivity and all other issues. “We can’t escape from these issues.”
Debapriya said the third set of issues is the emerging issues that include IT, financial inclusions and many other issues.
The renowned economist said they need a framework within which all these three types of issues can be addressed. “We need a framework which will also address the current emphasis of our cooperation on the economic front.”
Also read: Dhaka, Delhi want enhanced connectivity for prosperity
He said Bangladesh and India have achieved quite a lot in the recent past, especially over the last 10 years, with a move from trade focus to more on connectivity one.
“What’s important to make the next step?” he said, highlighting the importance of investment focus -- the production value chain issue.
Debapriya said Bangladesh cannot solve its leftover issues without improving the space for negotiation.
Highlighting Bangladesh’s economic growth, Debapriya said Bangladesh deserves a “less than full reciprocity” in the relationship as it goes.
He said dealing with the external issue, one of the understated dimensions of Indo-Bangla relationship, is how Bangladesh is cooperating with India or how India is cooperating with Bangladesh at the global stage.
Debapriya said India has to be a part of the smooth transition of LDC graduation of Bangladesh, and said India has provided duty- and quota-free market access which helped Bangladesh’s exports to India cross US$ 1.2 billion-dollar mark.
“I think India has to continue with the duty- and quota-free market access in line with other markets providers like the European, Canada and Australia,” the economist said.
He added that this is a declaration that will continue to support Bangladesh with duty- and quota-free market access for the export of garments at least in three years, not nine years, in line with WTO proposals. It will be a great service and it will continue greatly to strengthen the relationship.
CPD Executive Director Dr Fahmida Khatun said the relationship between Bangladesh and India is covering a wide range of aspects, including trade, investment, power and energy; communication, health, education and culture.
She said the collaboration between the two countries perceives an important factor, not only for the two countries but also for enhancing South Asian cooperation.
Fahmida said they need to understand the challenges and identify the opportunities through concrete actions by both the countries.
The economist laid emphasis on the issue of harnessing advantage of closer bilateral cooperation and leveraging this cooperation to ensure strengthening regional and global integration of the economy.
The CPD economist said Bangladesh needs reimaging its own policies, strategies and options during this journey.
As a large neighbour, she said, India can feature prominently through extending support and cooperation in a number of areas and noted that in the last decade, there were a number of initiatives towards depending bilateral cooperation in different areas, including trade and goods, services, energy, and multimodal transport connectivity, cross-border trade, capacity building, deepening people-to-people connectivity, and also security measures.
“For Bangladesh, there’re many trade-related challenges. One of the important challenges is to make greater use of Indian offer of duty- and quota-free market access. It’s still underutilised,” Fahmida said, adding that there is a huge trade gap, too.
Statistics showed that trade and economic cooperation between India and Bangladesh is much lower than its full potential, she added.
According to the World Bank Study, Bangladesh and India trade economic potential is almost $16 billion, but the actual trade is around $10 billion.
Fahmida said the cost of trading is very high due to lack of trade facilitation and logistic shortcoming.
She said the future relationship between Bangladesh and India will depend on how the challenges are addressed by both the countries.
Greater trade, connectivity hold brighter future for Dhaka-Delhi ties: Doraiswami
Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Vikram Kumar Doraiswami has said trade will be potentially a key driver of Bangladesh-India friendship in the future with focus on value addition to products but the environment will remain an important issue to look at.
“We should look at trade and a whole new framework. I believe trade will be potentially a key driver of our friendship in the future,” he said, adding that the two countries need to be futuristic about how to deal with the next generation of issues.
High Commissioner Doraiswami made the remarks while delivering a keynote speech at a symposium titled ‘Bangladesh-India Relations: Prognosis for the Future’ which premiered on Thursday night on Facebook.
An array of experts from Bangladesh and India – former Ambassador Tariq A. Karim, Director, Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore Prof C. Raja Mohan, Dhaka University Prof Imtiaz Ahmed, former Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty, Distinguished Fellow, Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya, Bangladesh Institute of Peace and Security Studies (BIPSS) President Maj Gen (Retd) A. N. M. Muniruzzaman, CPD Executive Director Dr Fahmida Khatun, Brig. Gen.(Retd.) Shahedul Anam Khan and former Indian Foreign Secretary Krishnan Srinivasan - were brought together for the online symposium to assess the state of relations between the two countries and identify the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead in the effort to take it forward.
Renowned scholar-diplomat and adviser on foreign affairs to the last caretaker government Dr Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury chaired the event hosted by the Cosmos Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the Cosmos Group. Chairman of Cosmos Foundation Enayetullah Khan delivered the opening remarks at the event.
For future trade, High Commissioner Doraiswami laid emphasis on some areas in which Bangladesh could provide India a key base for value addition, including to food production and RMG and textile.
25 Covid patients die in Delhi hospital
The oxygen crisis in the Indian capital is escalating by the day. At least 25 Covid patients on life support died at a leading Delhi hospital late on Friday night due to a shortage of the life-saving gas.
Jaipur Golden Hospital, a dedicated Covid medical facility in Delhi, said on Saturday morning that the deaths occurred around midnight on Friday due to "low-supply oxygen" to critical patients on ventilator.
"We had been allotted 3.5 metric tonnes of oxygen from the government. The supply was to reach us by 5 in the evening, but it reached around midnight. By then, 20 patients had died," Dr DK Baluja, the hospital's Medical Director told the media.
Later in the day, the hospital authorities revised the death toll to 25 in a plea to the High Court in Delhi, seeking its immediate intervention in ending the oxygen crisis in thr national capital.
"There is big human tragedy coming in next few minutes in our hospital. We have already lost 25 lives. We are gasping for oxygen. We have our Doctors before you. Please save lives. Please," the plea said.
According to Dr Baluja, over 200 Covid patients admitted at the hospital "continue to remain critical and in dire need of oxygen".
Facing an acute shortage of oxygen, another Covid medical facility in Delhi -- Moolchand hospital -- has also sent out an SOS message to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and the national capital's Lt Governor Anil Baijal.
"Urgent sos help. We have less than 2 hours of oxygen supply @Moolchand_Hos. We are desperate have tried all the nodal officer numbers but unable to connect. Have over 135 COVID pts with many on life support," Moolchand tweeted this morning.
More than 130 Covid patients are on life support at the hospital, the authorities said.
In fact, several hospitals in India, particularly Delhi, are currently facing an acute shortage of oxygen as the country witnesses a ferocious second wave of Covid.
On Friday morning too, another leading hospital in Delhi announced the deaths of 25 patients in 24 hours due to "low pressure oxygen".
In a statement, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital had said, "25 sickest patients have died in last 24 hours. Oxygen will last another two hours. Major crisis likely. Lives of another 60 sickest patients at risk, need urgent intervention."
Some 500 Covid patients are currently being treated at Ganga Ram. Of them, as many as 142 are on life support, according to the hospital.
It may also be mentioned here that 24 Covid patients on ventilator at a government hospital in the western Indian state of Maharashtra died on Wednesday after their oxygen supply ran out following leakage of the life-supporting gas from a tanker.
The tanker was brought to Zakir Hussain Municipal Hospital in the state's Nashik district to replenish the oxygen cylinders at the medical facility for continuous supply to the 150-plus Covid-19 patients on life support.
Such is the shortage of oxygen in the country that chief ministers of many Indian state's have raised the issue with the federal government, seeing Prime Minister Modi's immediate intervention to end the crisis.
"Serious oxygen crisis persists in Delhi. I again urge the Centre (federal government) to urgently provide oxygen to Delhi. Some hospitals are left with just a few hours of oxygen," Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted on Tuesday.
As per the latest figures released by the Indian Health Ministry, Delhi on Friday registered as many as 348 Covid deaths in 24 hours, its highest single-day toll to date.
Bangladesh’s tri-service contingent accorded reception in Delhi
Bangladesh High Commissioner in New Delhi Muhammad Imran on Sunday accorded a reception to a 122-member tri-service contingent from Bangladesh which will participate in India’s Republic Day Parade in New Delhi on January 26.
Dhaka, Delhi to launch travel air bubble soon
Bangladesh and India want to launch a travel air bubble without any delay by discussing the issue in details in New Delhi while a virtual meeting of the next Joint Consultative Commission (JCC) is under discussion, officials said.