India & Bangladesh together ushering in a golden era

To boost bilateral ties between the two nations, India and Bangladesh signed 5 Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) related to important areas such as connectivity, commerce, information technology and sports. Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and Bangladesh Prime minister Sheikh Hasina discussed progress achieved in areas of health, trade, connectivity, energy, developmental cooperation and many more. Hon’ble PM Modi visited Bangladesh on the momentous occasion of the Bangladesh’s 50^th year of independence, wherein he presented his counterpart PM Sheikh Hasina with a representational key of 109 ambulances, along with a representational box as a symbol of India’s gift of 1.2 million COVID vaccine doses that were promised earlier. These 5 MoUs included: 

• MoU on Disaster Management, Resilience and Mitigation noting that this would augment institutional cooperation in mitigating natural disasters,
• MoU between Bangladesh National Cadet Corps (BNCC) and National Cadet Corps of India (INCC),
• MoU on the Establishment of a framework of Cooperation in the Area of Trade Remedial Measures between Bangladesh and India,
• Tripartite MoU on Establishment of Sports facilities at Rajshahi College field and surrounding areas &
• Tripartite MoU on Supply of ICT equipment, courseware and reference books and training for Bangladesh-Bharot Digital Service & Employment and Training (BDSET) Center.

To help trade between the two countries augment and flourish, both Prime Ministers stressed upon the removal of non-tariff barriers and predictability of trade policies, regulations, and procedures. Considering the robust cooperation in the power and energy sector, it was agreed to strengthen sub-regional cooperation, with other neighbouring nations including Nepal and Bhutan and in this regard cooperation in energy was stressed upon. Ongoing projects consist of the India Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline and unit-1 of the Maitree Super Thermal Power Project, whose progress was monitored with a hope of getting them up and running soon. Even something as turbulent as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has brought about extreme cooperation between India and her neighbouring countries, thus strengthening diplomatic ties. Bangladesh was given 1.2 million doses of Oxford AstraZeneca Covishield Vaccine, made in India. Owing to its Neighbourhood first policy, India is also committed to supplying the remaining tranches of vaccine procured by Bangladesh from the Serum Institute of India and has assured full cooperation on this front. 

Be it India’s ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy or the ‘Act East’ policy, in areas covering connectivity, trade, security or development, Bangladesh is central to India’s regional outlook. For this very reason, Modi’s visit to Bangladesh, not only celebrated 50 years of Bangladesh’s liberation war and India-Bangladesh diplomatic ties, but also marked a significant change in Bangladesh’s evolution as an economically forceful and stable South Asian state which along with India can become a driver of regional momentum.