Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina jointly inaugurated three Indian-assisted development projects via video conferencing on Wednesday. Addressing the inaugural ceremony, PM Modi called it historic and said it is a matter of joy that the two nations once again have connected to celebrate the success of India-Bangladesh cooperation.
The three projects are the Akhaura- Agartala Cross-Border Rail Link, Khulna – Mongla Port Rail Line, and Unit – II of the Maitree Super Thermal Power Plant in Rampal, Bangladesh. India is proud to be the “biggest development partner” of Bangladesh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on the occasion.
A decade after India and Bangladesh signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for setting up the first Indo-Bangla international railway connectivity in Northeast India in 2013, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bangladesh Premier Sheikh Hasina Wednesday jointly inaugurated the Agartala-Akhaura project virtually from New Delhi and Dhaka, respectively.
The project is all set to usher in new possibilities of connectivity, transit and trade and commerce for the otherwise land-locked state of Tripura. Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha joined the event virtually from Agartala.
In his speech at the inaugural event, Modi said his government signed the Indo-Bangla Land Boundary Agreement which was pending for decades, resolved the maritime boundary issue and laid special stress on infrastructure development and connectivity between the two countries. He also called the moment historic.
Terming India to be “Bangladesh’s biggest development partner”, Modi said while the bilateral relations have strengthened connectivity between India and Bangladesh, it has also boosted the neighbouring country’s energy sector and regional connectivity.
He also said that a power trade understanding was instrumentalised between India, Bangladesh and Nepal in recent times and said his government’s policy of ‘Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas’ equally applies to other nations.
Bangladesh and India have established a rail link via Tripura in the northeast after a gap over seven decades. The Akhaura- Agartala cross-border rail link will greatly reduce travel time between, for example, Kolkata and Agartala and improve trade.
With the Akhaura- Agartala cross-border rail link operational, trains can run from Kolkata to Agartala via Bangladesh, as the neighbouring country is located in the middle of the land mass between India’s northeast and the rest of the country, connected only by a small corridor in Bengal’s Siliguri popularly known as the “Chicken’s Neck”.
The Khulna-Mongla rail link will cover 65 km of broad-gauge rail route between Mongla, the second largest port of Bangladesh, and the existing rail network within Khulna. This will ultimately contribute to greater maritime access to eastern India as well.
Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina, who joined Wednesday’s virtual event from her official residence, Ganabhaban, in Dhaka, said the projects would help in ushering in an era of prosperity in Bangladesh. She highlighted the Akhaura-Agartala rail link and said the long-awaited project will energise connectivity and commerce in northeast India as well as Bangladesh.
“Bangladesh attaches the highest importance in boosting the relation with India. We have achieved success in bilateral cooperation in various areas in recent years. I am optimistic that many more such examples of success will be set as the reflection of our bilateral cooperation in the coming days,” Ms. Hasina said.
