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Transcript of Special Briefing by Foreign Secretary on State Visit of Prime Minister of Bangladesh to India

India - Ministry of External Affairs

June 22, 2024

Shri Randhir Jaiswal, Official Spokesperson: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I welcome you to this special briefing on the ongoing visit of the Prime Minister of Bangladesh by Foreign Secretary Shri Vinay Kwatra. On the dais, we also have with us our High Commissioner to Bangladesh and also Joint Secretary looking after Bangladesh in the Ministry of External Affairs, Mr. B. Shyam, and High Commissioner Mr. Pranay Verma is also with us. With that, sir, the floor is yours.

Shri Vinay Kwatra, Foreign Secretary: Thank you very much and very good afternoon to the friends from the media. Thank you very much for coming this afternoon, for attending this special briefing on the ongoing state visit to India of the Honourable Prime Minister of People's Republic of Bangladesh, Her Excellency Sheikh Hasina ji. As you are aware, at the invitation of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of Bangladesh is visiting New Delhi on a two-day state visit that commenced yesterday.

On her arrival yesterday evening, Honourable External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar called on the Bangladeshi Prime Minister and this morning, as you would have all seen, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was accorded ceremonial reception at the forecourt of the Rashtrapati Bhavan. This was followed by a visit to Rajghat to pay respects to Mahatma Gandhi and just now Prime Minister Modi and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina have concluded extensive discussions both in the restricted and the delegation level format at the Hyderabad House just a while ago.

Later this afternoon, frankly, just in a short while, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will also call on Honourable Rashtrapati ji and Honourable Uprashtrapati ji. The ongoing visit of the Bangladeshi Prime Minister is a part of our sustained high-level political engagement between the two countries. As you are all aware, Bangladesh Prime Minister was one of the international leaders who attended the swearing-in ceremony on 9th June of the Union Council of Ministers following the 18th Lok Sabha elections earlier this month. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's last state visit to India was in September 2022, which was followed by her visit as a guest country to participate in the G20 Leaders' Summit in September 2023.

I must also mention that this is the first incoming state visit in the current new term of this government. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was among the first leaders to congratulate Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji for his historic third term as the Prime Minister of India. These back-to-back exchanges between our two countries underscore the special nature of our relationship, our strategic partnership and the trust and the respect that the two Prime Ministers share with each other, hold for each other. In terms of substance of the discussions, the conversations between the two Prime Ministers covered a range of, pretty much the full range of our bilateral engagement as also issues of regional and global importance.

There was agreement by both leaders to give new direction, new impetus and provide new substance in strengthening our bilateral and sub-regional cooperation. In order to turn this relationship into transformational partnership and, as I said, give a new direction and new impetus, both leaders jointly agreed to the India-Bangladesh Shared Vision for Future: Enhanced Connectivity, Commerce and Collaboration for Shared Prosperity. This vision document of futuristic partnership between India and Bangladesh will also be shared in a short while with the media. This vision document seeks to realize our respective national development visions of Viksit Bharat 2047 and Smart Bangladesh vision of 2041.

Besides the vision document, two other futuristic and forward-looking documents have been agreed between the two sides. The first one of them is focused on digital partnership and is titled 'Shared Vision for India-Bangladesh Digital Partnership' and the second one focuses on 'Green Partnership for a Sustainable Future'. As I said, these three vision documents will set the course for new areas of partnership between India and Bangladesh in months and years ahead. The two leaders also agreed to intensify engagement on counter-terrorism, counter-radicalization and peaceful management of our long land border.

In terms of bilateral partnership on the rivers management, common rivers and their suitable management is of utmost importance for India and Bangladesh. To this end, a joint technical committee to initiate discussions for renewal of Ganges Water Sharing Treaty of 1996 has been formed. Technical discussions on these will soon begin. We will also be undertaking conservation and management of the Teesta River inside Bangladesh with suitable Indian assistance. As you may all know, Bangladesh is a key part of India's SAGAR doctrine and the Indo-Pacific Vision. In this respect, the renewal of the MOU on maritime cooperation and blue economy that was signed and exchanged earlier today aims to develop our ocean-based blue economy and maritime cooperation. Similarly, the MOU on oceanography will establish framework for research in that area. The renewal of MOU on disaster management would help strengthen response and capacity building in this entire domain. We would also be focusing on the disaster risk reduction and management, which is one of the key pillars of the Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative. In the area of space, the two sides exchange today the MOU on space technology, which seeks to establish collaboration between the two sides for a launch of a jointly developed small satellite for Bangladesh on India's launch vehicle.

Defence cooperation also figured between the two leaders and they underscored the need and keenness to augment bilateral defence cooperation and to this end support plans for both modernization of Bangladesh armed forces and defence industrial cooperation between the two countries. Connectivity continues to remain one of the central pillars of India-Bangladesh partnership. We believe that connectivity can transform geographical proximity into new economic opportunities, not just between India and Bangladesh, but also for the entire region. In this respect, we are starting a new passenger train service between Rajshahi and Kolkata while trial run for a goods train on Bangladesh railway from a place called Gede-Darshana to Haldibari-Chilahati cross-border interchange point is planned for next month sometime. This will also help sub-regional connectivity with Bhutan.

We will also be starting another bus service, which will be between Kolkata and Chittagong. Indian assistance is also being announced for developing the inland container depot, ICD in Sirajganj. One of the key domains and sub-domains of connectivity remains linkages, network linkages between the two countries in the field of power. The first sub-regional power trade, as you all know, has been agreed with the decision to export 40 megawatts of power from Nepal to Bangladesh through the Indian grid. There has also been an agreement, as you will find in the documents, that would be made public to expedite construction of the 765 kilowatt high-capacity interconnection between Bihar and Assam via Bangladesh with suitable Indian financial assistance. People-to-people exchanges and our relationships is another key pillar of our partnership. To this end, as you would have heard the Honourable Prime Minister said in his remarks to the press, we would soon be putting the medical visas from Bangladesh to India into the e-medical visa category, which would give great fillip and will also be a huge convenience for those who would get benefit of this e-medical visa scheme. Also, to facilitate visa and consular services, both sides have agreed to open a new Indian Assistant High Commission in Rangpur. As regards other elements of people-to-people engagement, several other understandings in terms of human resource developments, training slots across different areas have been agreed between the two sides, which will be progressively put in place.

India is the largest market for Bangladeshi products in Asia, and in this respect we hope to commence CEPA negotiation at an early date and open also new border haats. You will find a mention of that in the vision document for the benefit of people living along the borders. Also, there have been two separate MOUs earlier today in the field of fisheries and health. These were documents that were earlier also signed and were renewed after the expiry of the previous agreements. Overall, ten agreements have been concluded today, whose list will be made available on MEA's website shortly. As you can clearly see that the visit, the discussions, the substance of the outcome between the two leaders has been very, very substantive and purposeful.

I would stop here and take any questions in this regard. Thank you. Just a word, since we are actually a bit behind schedule and we have an upcoming engagement, so we will only be able to take only one round of questions. Thank you.

Shri Randhir Jaiswal, Official Spokesperson: We are going to open the floor, but please keep your questions focused on the state visit. With that, we start from our left.

Ayanangsha Maitra: Sir, this is Ayanangsha Maitra. I am an independent journalist. Is there any discussion between the two state leaders on...?

Shri Vinay Kwatra, Foreign Secretary: I am sorry, I didn't get your name.

Ayanangsha Maitra: Ayanangsha Maitra. Is there any discussion between the two heads of state on BIMSTEC and number of items for more bringing under CEPA. Thank you.

Rishabh: Good evening, Foreign Secretary. Rishabh from Times Now. I just wanted to understand, we did discuss about the defence, academic defence MOU signed between the defence college and Mirpur College. But was there any discussion around the border situation between India and Bangladesh given that there have been a few here and there spurting violence along the border where BSF jawans have also been injured?

Sidhant: Hi Sir, Sidhant from WION. Sir, how much was there a discussion on the Rohingya issue and secondly, were there any concerns raised by India over the India out campaign in Bangladesh that has been led by certain elements?

Abhishek Jha: Sir, just wanted to add in this Rohingya, what's the kind of aid and assistance or humanitarian assistance India continues to supply to Rohingya? In the past, India used to send a lot of stuff, so if you would have some detail on that.

Ayushi Agarwal: Sir, this is Ayushi Agarwal from ANI. I just wanted to ask, was the recent killing of a Bangladeshi MP in West Bengal raised by the Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina during the talks?

Sridhar: Sir, you mentioned this technical team for the conservation and management of the Teesta borders. What is the status of this Teesta water dispute between the two countries and is it nearing resolution? Is there a road map for this? Thank you.

Manash: Sir, this is Manash from PTI. Taking forward the previous question on Teesta, so Prime Minister also in his statement mentioned that in fact a technical team will be sent to explore preservation and conservation of Teesta river. How significant is the project? As we understand, China was also very keen to have that project. I just wanted your comment on significance of the project.

Speaker: Good afternoon. India had given a submarine to Bangladesh in the recent past, very recent past. So as part of the aid to modernize the Bangladesh military, where more specific platforms for Bangladesh, you know, was it like agreed upon?

Sudhi: Sir, Sudhi Ranjan from Bloomberg, sir. Sir, if you could give us an understanding on the CEPA agreement and the talks and, I mean, you said it's likely to be concluded at an early date. Did the two leaders kind of put a date to it, sir?

Gautam: Thank you. My question is also related to Teesta, whether India has in principle agreed to be part with what is the plan of Bangladesh to develop and conservation of Teesta. Should we take it as an in principle consent? And second, can you elaborate on this railway MoU, what was the, we heard about it. Was there any MoU on railway cooperation?

Jaiprakash: Sir main Jaiprakash Dainik Jagran se. PM Hasina agle mahine china bhi ja rahi hain, kya prime minister Modi ke sath mei jo batchit hui hain usmai china ko lekar jo concern hain India ka uspar bhi koi baat hui hain?

[Question in Hindi: Approximate Translation] Sir, I am Jaiprakash from Dainik Jagran. PM Hasina is also going to China next month. Was there any discussion about India's concerns regarding China in the conversation of PM Hasina with PM Modi?

Tripathi Nath: Yeah. Thank you. Mr. Kwatra, my name is Tripathi Nath. I represent Strat News Global and the Daily Observer Bangladesh, which I write for some time. So I wanted to know, you mentioned the e-medical visa category. When is it going to get started? Because India is obviously a huge destination for Bangladeshis who come here for medical treatment. So how many Bangladeshis are likely to benefit? How many Bangladeshis are coming for medical treatment to India every year on an average?

Shri Vinay Kwatra, Foreign Secretary: Thank you very much.

Let me start with the last question first, which is relating to the e-medical visas. I do not have precise numbers to share with you in terms of number of people who actually would be utilizing this particular service, but it is our understanding that there is a substantial chunk of current visa applicants from Bangladesh that prefer to come to India for medical treatment. The numbers could range anywhere between, I would say, 20% to 30% of the total number of applications that are received by our embassy in Dhaka. It's a fairly large number of people. More importantly, it's also a segment of people which we want to prioritize in terms of focus, mainly because these pertain to their medical needs. We have announced this decision today, as soon as the processes are put in place to start implementing the platform for the utilization of e-medical visa, they would be available to the applicants.

I will take all the questions relating to CEPA in one go. Number of items on CEPA that Mr. Maitra asked, Bloomberg wanted to know when the negotiation will be completed. If I recall correctly, I only said we hope to commence negotiations. So, the completion part is an assumption of 10 steps down the line perhaps. As I said, trade, connectivity, not just in terms of the infrastructure modalities that facilitate trade is crucial, but the number of tariff lines that get traded between the two countries and which actually constitute the bulk of the volume of India-Bangladesh bilateral trade are very crucial. In a CEPA negotiating framework, the expansion in the trade basket, what kind of tariff concessions do you provide to different HS code digits of different products, all these constitute a very important part of negotiations which would then be spread out across various chapters of CEPA negotiations. I think both sides have held initial technical discussions to better understand how they want to position the respective set of goods, perhaps even services and other trade facilitation-related measures in CEPA and I think once those initial lists have been analyzed in great details, as I said, the CEPA negotiations we hope would commence at an early date. Besides that, I should also mention about the new border haats which will be open for the benefit of the two people. Whether it is the number of items, their analysis, their positioning in the negotiations, the extent of tariff concessions that go into it or even the process of CEPA negotiations that Bloomberg referred to would get covered like this.

Yes, the two leaders did discuss the BIMSTEC engagement and it was discussed at length from the perspective and the principles of strengthening regional and sub-regional cooperation. Not just politically in terms of what India and Bangladesh can do in BIMSTEC but also across different economic and connectivity domains. BIMSTEC is very crucial because it links up the economic complementarities, even social complementarities I would say, of the region and bring them together into a convergence mode that actually strengthens not just cooperation among the BIMSTEC countries but also drives an impulse to the India-Bangladesh partnership.

With regard to your question on the border injuries that you mentioned, this is an issue which we take, we look at it with great sensitivity and we on our side have been taking all the requisite measures that are necessary to ensure that the fatalities are reduced and this even includes the use of non-lethal measures. But whenever our border security forces sometimes get attacked at close quarters in Indian territory by nefarious elements, then the measures in self-defence have to be taken and they do result sometime in unfortunate loss of life but what I want to mention is that we are very careful about it. We approach this matter with great sensitivity and we naturally do that with the expectation that the border guarding forces of both sides will take necessary measures on their respective sides to maintain the sanctity of the border so that such incidents do not happen and are prevented.

What was your question relating to the MOU? I did not get that one. I think you asked one more question.

Speaker: My question was actually that you answered sir, that we do understand about the MOU that has been signed academically but what the border issues discussed?

Shri Vinay Kwatra, Foreign Secretary: MOU on academics that's more of a fact. Again, I will take this Rohingya's bracket in a single shot to what Sidhant mentioned. Yes, the Rohingya issue was discussed. This is an issue which India and Bangladesh have discussed periodically at different levels of interaction. The spectrum in which these discussions take place is the one, of course, as you know, in the past also India has offered assistance to Bangladesh because that was your other point relating to the humanitarian assistance on Rohingyas. That is something which we have offered in the past. We will continue to work with Bangladesh closely on that. There are several aspects of Rohingya's challenge that Bangladesh faces, some of it also impinge on us, so those challenges also get discussed. How exactly should these concerns be reflected to Myanmar also comes up for discussions between India and Bangladesh. All this forms the spectrum of these discussions and some of the key elements of this spectrum were also discussed between the two leaders today.

Dekhiye pratyakshya anuvaad jo maine kaha hai shayad main nahi kar paunga lekin Rohingya ke mudde pe donon shirsh netaon ke beech varta hui hai aaj. Vigat mei bhi jab bhi donon deshon ke aadhikarigan milte hain, matrigan milte hain unke beech mei bhi Rohingya ko le ke varta hoti rahi hai aur us varta ka jo ek spectrum hai jisme ye varta hoti hai usme bharat aur bangladesh kis prakar se humanitarian kshetra mei Rohingyas ko le ke sehyog kar sakte hain, sehkarya kar sakte hain, uski baat hoti hai. Rohingyas ko le ke, unse judi hui chunautiyon ko le ke unki jis prakar ki aavashyakatayein hain unko le ke unke sambandh mei batchit hoti rehti hai. Aur Rohingya ke mudde ko kis prakar se bharat myanmar ki vartaon mei pradarshit kiya jaye, usko prakashit kiya jaye, us sambandh mei bhi varta hoti hai. To ye sab muddon mei jo bhi ahem mudde the donon netaon ne aapas ki varta mei discuss kiye the aaj.

[Answer in Hindi: Approximate Translation] Look, I may not be able to provide a literal translation of what I said, but there was a discussion held between the two leaders about the Rohingya issue today. In the past as well, whenever officials and ministers from both countries have met, there have been discussions about the Rohingya. The spectrum of these discussions have always included how India and Bangladesh can cooperate on humanitarian grounds regarding the Rohingyas. Discussions are held on issues related to the Rohingyas, their needs, and the ways to address them. There are also talks on how the Rohingya issue can be brought in the context of India-Myanmar discussions. All these significant issues were discussed between the two leaders in their meeting today.

The question, your question actually relating to the Bangladesh MP, as you know that the incident regarding the Bangladesh MP is currently under investigation and the law enforcement agencies from both countries are currently coordinating and necessary information is being shared in respect of the investigation and the government from our side is extending all possible support to the Bangladesh side as part of investigation. I don't think at this stage it would be correct for me to in any way prejudge what the outcome of those investigations would be.

I will take all questions relating to Teesta restoration project in one shot. As you rightly observed that technical team has been constituted essentially to look at the Teesta water restoration project, you asked as to what is the context in which this is discussed. Look, the principal context is what I mentioned in my opening remarks also, which is that the management of the shared water resources between the two countries is a very crucial matter. It is a very sensitive matter and both countries first of all look at it from that principle, that is on the common shared management of the water resources. Naturally, given that our close and friendly ties with Bangladesh, cross boundary river issues and Teesta is one of them becomes important. This is also a subject matter of discussion under the joint river commission between the two countries and these subjects do come up for discussions. In today's meeting between the two leaders, one of the subject matter in this which came up for discussion was the conservation of Teesta river, which requires a fair degree of I should say technical management. It is less about water sharing per se, it is more about the management of the water flows within Teesta river and as I said since the subject matter of that restoration is technical in nature, the understanding between the two leaders was that a technical team would undertake efforts to make progress on this.

I will take the question on the defence and the platform for the army equipment that you mentioned. As I said, one of the agreements has been between the two sides with regard to the academic exchanges at the level of the defence staff colleges between the two countries but the two sides in today's discussions also discussed how the entire spectrum of defence cooperation between India and Bangladesh can be strengthened, whether that relates to the modernization of Bangladesh army and that modernization includes capacity building for example, training facilities, exercises that the two countries can do, whether there are needs of equipment etc. of Bangladesh defence forces that the Indian side could fulfill. Both sides did hold extensive conversation on this and we hope to progress in them as we go forward.

With regard to the railways, I don't really recall the question, I think it was more on the specific question what was the railway MOU about. So the MOU for railway was on the connectivity between the two railways. As you know, there are already about six cross-border railway links but besides the importance of cross-border railway linkages, another crucial aspect of this railway connectivity is the transit that they afford between different parts of India through the territory of Bangladesh and the discussions today focused on that. The trial run that I mentioned to you, the points that I mentioned to you, forms part of that. And also this connectivity, how should I say, essentially strengthens a very large part of economic infrastructure within Bangladesh. So it's effectively a connectivity paradigm that actually benefits both the countries, both the societies, both the economies very, very extensively. The related point to that, which was partly figured in discussion, was the sub-regional transit that Bangladesh would get to Bhutan and Nepal. There is a part of it which already exists that would be further expanded and strengthened.

Dekhiye jahan tak aapka prashna tha china ki yatra ko le ke, bharat bangladesh ki varta, do shirsh netaon ke aaj ki varta mei jo kendrabindu the woh dwipakshiya sehyog pr kendrit the, us sahyog ki vyapakta ko badhane ke liye kis prakar ka sehkarya ho us par kendrit the. Is sahyog sehkarya mei donon deshon ke jo samrik hit hain, jo suraksha se jude hit hain, jo hamari chunotiya hain, un chunotiyon mei jo avsar nihit hain unpar kendrit the. Dwipakshiy varta ke mukhya mudde dwipakshiy sahyog pe jyada kendtrit the, na ki kisi tisre desh ki vartaon ko le ke kendrit the.

[Question in Hindi: Approximate Translation] Look, as far as your question about the visit to China is concerned, the discussions between India and Bangladesh during today's talks between the two leaders were focused on bilateral cooperation. The focus was on how to enhance the scope of this cooperation. Discussions were focused on strategic and security interests of both countries, the challenges we face, and the opportunities within those challenges. The talks were more centered on bilateral cooperation rather than on discussions about any third country.

Thank you very much. I think I have answered probably all the questions. Thank you very much.

Speaker: [Inaudible]

Shri Vinay Kwatra, Foreign Secretary: Look, essentially our effort in all the conversations that we have with Bangladesh is on the need to work together as much as possible, to essentially project the correct narrative of the relationship of the people of the two countries, of the societies of the two countries. And why do we do this? We do this because our relationship is historic, it is time-tested, it is deep-rooted, and it is important for people to realize that such campaigns which are done by isolated minority or vested interests are not factual, basically figments of imagination of people. And we will not spare any effort in continuing to ensure that people get to know the correct reality of the relationship, which is the deep, historic, positive connect between the people of the two countries, the systems of the two countries, and the societies of the two countries. Thank you very much.

Shri Randhir Jaiswal, Official Spokesperson: Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. With that, we come to the closure of this special press briefing by Foreign Secretary. Thank you for your presence and thank you, sir, for taking out time for the media. Thank you very much.