ZCZC
BSS-59
BANGLADESH-INDIA-JCC-LEAD -2nd
Bangladesh seeks early signing of Teesta deal at JCC meeting
(updated with Jaishankar, IHC comments)
DHAKA, Sept 29, 2020 (BSS) – Bangladesh foreign minister Dr AK
Abdul Momen today sought to settle the long pending proposed Teesta
deal as he held ministerial level Joint Consultative Commission (JCC)
talks with his counterpart Dr S Jaishankar through virtual platform.
“We have got positive responses from the Indian side” on the issue,
Momen told a media briefing on the outcome of the talks this afternoon
at his office.
He added that Dhaka was always hopeful about signing of Teesta
treaty while his meeting with Jaishankar featured as well the issue of
potential water sharing agreements on six of the remaining
transboundary rivers – Monu, Muhuri, Khowai, Gomti, Dharla and
Dudhkumar.
The Bangladesh foreign office shortly after the briefing issued a
statement supplementing Momen saying “both sides underscored the
necessity of early resolution of the Teesta water sharing and early
resolution of agreements on sharing of all common rivers”.
The two sides also agreed to hold the long pending Joint Rivers
Commission (JRC) meeting soon at the ministerial level to address
outstanding issues on water resources cooperation.
“It (JRC meeting) will be held very soon,” Momen said.
This was the sixth JCC meeting led by the two foreign ministers but
first on the virtual media in view of the COVID-19 pandemic while the
vaccine issue also appeared to be a major issue of their talks.
Momen said the meeting discussed about cooperation on access to
potential COVID 19 vaccine while India side assured that Bangladesh
would get priority in receiving any potential vaccine which it could
develop.
“We are ready to start Phase-III clinical trials in Bangladesh soon
after we launch these trials in India,” said Indian External Affairs
Minister Dr S Jaishankar in his welcome remark during the meeting.
He said commune vaccine trails would help strengthen cooperation
among the regulators and simplify process for future distribution and
joint production of vaccines while “Bangladesh will be accorded high
priority in all these efforts.”
“We (however) will collect the vaccine from where we can get it
first,” Momen said adding that Dhaka by now communicated with all
possible countries including China, Russia, Britain and European Union
for its access to potential Covid 19 vaccine
The foreign office statement elaborated the point saying both sides
discussed collaboration in the health sector “especially in terms of
supply, delivery, distribution and co-production of COVID-19 vaccine”.
“Hon’ble Foreign Minister of Bangladesh appreciated India’s
assurance on prioritizing Bangladesh for supply of the potential
vaccine in the future,” it read.
Meanwhile, a senior official of Indian High Commissioner in Dhaka
told BSS that Dhaka had “agreed in principle” to go for the clinical
trials of Covid-19 vaccines in Bangladesh during the today’s JCC.
The Rohingya crisis appeared to be another issue of the JCC talks
when Dhaka sought India’s enhanced cooperation for its resolution
while New Delhi reiterated its stance for safe, secure and sustainable
Rohingya repatriation.
Momen said India today promised to extend its hand as Dhaka
requested for their cooperation to resolve the crisis in line with the
UN Security Council (UNNSC) resolution.
The foreign ministry statement said he expressed hope that as a
non-permanent UNSC member India would play a “more meaningful role”
for a lasting solution to the Rohingya crisis through the Rohingyas
early repatriation to Myanmar in a safe and sustainable manner.
Momen said his Indian counterpart agreed with him to bring down
border killing to zero level as “we don’t want any death along the
frontier and it’s a shame for friendly countries like Bangladesh and
India”.
During Indian Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla’s recent
Dhaka visit, Dhaka expressed deep concern over growing incidents of
casualties along the border due to unexpected actions by the Indian
border guards during the first half of this year.
Bangladesh flagged that this is in violation of all bilateral
agreements and that the Indian Border Security Force must be duly
urged to exercise maximum restraint.
Following the concern, a directors’ general-level meeting between
Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and India’s Border Security Force (BSF)
was held in the capital earlier this month where the Indian side
agreed to use lethal weapons as “last resort” to check criminal
activities on frontiers.
Home secretary will be visiting Dhaka in November to hold a meeting
with his Bangladesh counterpart and discuss border management and
consular issues, an Indian high commission senior official said this
evening.
Momen revealed that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Indian
counterpart Narendra Modi were set to hold talks in December while the
pandemic situation at that time would decide if it would be staged
virtually or they two leaders would meet in person.
According to Momen and the statement issued by his office the two
foreign ministers also discussed issues including trade, line of
credit and air bubble during their talks.
Dhaka’s Indian High Commission official said of both the countries’
civil aviation authorities have instructed to set modalities of
operating flights by airlines of the two countries under the
air-bubble while India has already been connected with 13 countries
under such mechanism.
According to the statement Bangladesh side thanked India for the
concessions being provided under SAFTA but said various non-tariff
barriers and lack of adequate trade facilitation was impeding flow of
Bangladeshi products into India, particularly, the North East.
It said Momen requested New Delhi to address issues of
accreditation, certification, standardization, port restrictions and
developing port infrastructure to enable exports of Bangladesh into
India.
“The Bangladesh Foreign Minister requested his Indian counterpart
to look into the export of essential commodities, such as onions by
India, since this impact the domestic market of Bangladesh,” the
statement read.
Bangladesh, it said, also stressed on the equitable application of
investment policies by India.
Both sides also discussed the joint programmes for celebrating
ongoing Mujib Year marking the birth centenary of Father of the Nation
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the 50th anniversary of
Bangladesh in the next year.
The JCC also reviewed the projects under the Indian line of credit
and Dhaka put emphasis on expediting the implementation process of the
projects under an Indian line of credit and decided to form a
monitoring committee to regularly review the progress of the ongoing
projects.
“Enhancing cooperation on energy and power sector through
facilitation of tripartite power-energy cooperation among
Bangladesh-India-Nepal and Bangladesh-India-Bhutan was also
discussed,” the statement said.
The two Foreign Ministers recognized the positive trajectory of
bilateral relations enjoyed by the two countries and exchanged
gratitude with each other for maintaining the gesture of good
neighborliness.
The two foreign ministers agreed to jointly celebrate the Golden
Jubilee of the Independence of Bangladesh and the fiftieth anniversary
of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two
countries.
The foreign office statement said a number of programmes were
proposed to organize jointly to mark the Mujib Year and 50th
anniversary of establishment of bilateral ties.
These, it said, included revival of the historic Mujibnagar-Kolkata
road, honoring the Indian war veterans, ceremonial military parades on
16 December, friendship fairs, year-long seminars in different cities
of Bangladesh and India and simultaneous launching of a website on 50
years of victory and friendship.
The two sides agreed to establish Bangabandhu-Bapu digital museums
both in Bangladesh and India.
“Both sides expressed satisfaction that even during the current
situation induced by the pandemic COVID-19, Bangladesh and India have
maintained robust engagements,” the statement read.
It said after the talks, Momen and jaishankar jointly unveiled two
commemorative stamps as part of the celebration of the 150th birth
anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.
India, it said, would also release a commemorative stamp on the
birth centenary of Bangabandhu on 16 December 2020 to pay their homage
to Bangladesh’s founder.
During the 5th India-Bangladesh JCC meeting held on February 8 last
year in New Delhi four MoUs were signed to further strengthen the
existing multifaceted cooperation between the two neighbouring
countries.
BSS/ASG/TA/GA/AR/MRU/2221hrs