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Dhaka:
Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee arrived in Dhaka on
Saturday with a billion dollar credit package on a four-hour long
visit, during which he will also call on Prime Minister Sheikh
Hasina.
Mukherjee, who is the first high-profile Indian leader to visit
Bangladesh after Ms. Hasina’s tour to New Delhi in January, was
accorded a red carpet welcome at the city’s Hazrat Shah Jalal
International Airport.
A special Indian Air Force jet carried Mukherjee, while his
Bangladeshi counterpart, Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, received him on the
VVIP tarmac of the airport.
“We (India) are committed to assisting Bangladesh in addressing its
priorities for development,” Mukherjee said in an arrival statement.
His visit will be marked by the
signing of a $1 billion loan deal, the largest line of credit
received by Bangladesh under a single agreement.
Mukherjee, who is also set to hold
talks with Muhith, his host Foreign Minister Dipu Moni and Ms.
Hasina during the tour, said Dhaka-New Delhi ties touched a new high
following Ms. Hasina’s “landmark” visit to India earlier in the
year.
“A forward looking and comprehensive joint communique been adopted
by the two leaders (Ms. Hasina and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh). I am happy that considerable progress has been made in the
implementation of several important initiatives taken in the
communique,” he said.
Mukherjee referred to the close bonds of friendship based on common
heritage, historic, linguistic and cultural ties and added, “We need
to continue to build on these commonalities and promote the
well-being of our people to greater economic engagements.”
India’s Exim Bank will sign the $1 billion Line of Credit agreement
with Bangladesh’s Economic Relations Division. The loan will be used
for 14 projects, mostly related to development of railway and
communications infrastructure in Bangladesh, particularly to
facilitate trans-shipment of Indian goods to the isolated
northeastern region through Bangladesh.
Commerce Minister Faruque Khan told PTI on Friday that Dhaka was
expected to seek expeditious Indian steps to remove tariff and
non-tariff barriers on Bangladeshi products in line with a
summit-level understanding in January during talks with Mukherjee.
Foreign ministry officials said the entire gamut of bilateral
relations and issues, including sharing of Teesta river water, were
likely to come up for discussions between the Indian minister and
Bangladesh leaders and Mukherjee was expected to review the
implementation of agreements reached between the two countries at
that time.
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