Major General (retd.) Tarique Ahmed Siddique, security advisor to Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and thanked him for strengthening ties between the two countries.  During the meeting on Monday,  Modi commended Hasina’s leadership in ensuring the all-round development of Bangladesh and commitment to work to further strengthen Bangladesh-India ties.

The meeting came days after two countries held commerce secretary-level talks in New Delhi, where two sides discussed a variety of issues of mutual interest. Both countries had initiated talks on a comprehensive economic agreement last year in October and will soon finalize the joint study on a proposed bilateral free trade agreement aimed at taking their economic ties to the next level. 

Speaking at an event on Monday,  India's Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal specified focus areas for strengthening bilateral relationships, including an uninterrupted supply chain, as well as the joint production of defense equipment and pharmaceuticals.

He also pressed for the need to explore potential areas of investments, like Textiles, Jute products, Leather & Footwear, APIs for Pharmaceuticals, Medical Equipment, Digital Health & Education Services, Agribusiness, Electronics, Renewable Energy, etc.

Significantly, Dhaka has been seeking assistance from India for the development and modernization of its railway infrastructure. New Delhi has already assisted Dhaka in the development of its metro rail project in the capital. 

Notably, Bangladesh is the sixth largest trade partner and fifth-largest export destination of India. 

Speaking about the growing economic ties, Goyal said, “Since 2014, we have scaled up our trade and economic engagement as collaborators and not competitors," adding that New Delhi extended three lines of credit for $8 bn to Bangladesh, the largest concessional credit given by India to any single country.

(SAM)