NEW DELHI, Feb 5, 2019 (BSS) – Bangladesh and India could ink five memorandums of understanding (MoUs) as new foreign minister AK Abdul Momen is set to visit India in his maiden overseas tour since the Awami League government assumed office for the third consecutive term last month, officials said here today.
“The two sides so far agreed to sign three MoUs and they could reach a consensus on another two by tomorrow,” an official of the Bangladesh High Commission here told BSS.
Officials concerned in the mission said one of the three MoUs involved cooperation of the two countries in graft investigation while the two others were over TV broadcasting and medicinal plants.
They said Bangladesh’s Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) and India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) were expected to sign the first MoU, state-run Bangladesh Television (BTV) and Prasar Bharti of India the second and the two health ministries would ink the third one.
Momen is set to arrive in the Indian capital tomorrow evening to attend the 5th India-Bangladesh Joint Consultative Commission (JCC) meeting on Friday.
The foreign minister will lead a high level delegation comprising secretaries of different ministries and concerned departmental chiefs concerning the JCC in the meeting with his Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj, to be accompanied by concerned officials of her country.
Officials in Dhaka said entire gamut of bilateral relations ranging from trade and investment, security cooperation, connectivity, border management, defence cooperation, energy, shipping, and people-to-people exchanges were expected to come up for discussion in the JCC meet.
Momen is also scheduled to call on Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday morning prior to joining the JCC meet.
Later, he will meet former Indian President and Bharat Pranab Mukherjee at the latter’s residence here and join a lunch to be hosted by Swaraj in his honour on Friday.
India’s union State Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri will also host a dinner for him on Thursday.
Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi will host a dinner on Friday in honour of the minister and his delegation.
Wrapping up his three-day visit, the Bangladesh foreign minister will leave New Delhi for Dhaka on Saturday morning.
The last JCC meet was held in Dhaka on October 22-23, 2017 when Sushma Swaraj led the Indian delegation.