Jan 6, 2015

Greater cooperation and trade between India (West Bengal) and Bangladesh

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More roads must be built between the two countries.

 More railway links between the two countries.

 More shipping lanes between the two countries.

 The standardization of border post customs between the two countries.

 The easing of visa's between the two countries.

 Through roads in Bangladesh, without customs charges for Indian goods into Assam, but minimal charges for Indian goods into Myanmar and China.

 Water sharing agreements quickly signed.

 Land demarcations quickly signed.

 And FTA between India and Bangladesh.

The intensification of training of Bangladeshi state personnel in India, over and above any other country. (Military, Civil Service, Judiciary)

Joint military exercises between the two countries.

Regular meetings of senior military, security, civil service figures between the two countries(Every 6 months)

The world is racing ahead developmentally; Asia is racing ahead developmentally....and so must India with Bangladesh, hand in hand, together.

Bangladesh is now India's largest trading partner in South Asia.

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Mamata Banerjee to attend Bhasa Divas in Dhaka

Jaideep Mazumdar and Debashish Konar at Times of India.




     In a significant move that will enhance India-Bangladesh ties, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has accepted an invitation from Sheikh Hasina's government to participate in the Bhasa Divas celebrations in Dhaka on February 21 as guest of honour.
   Bangladesh deputy high commissioner Zokey Ahad called on the CM at her office at Nabanna on Monday to hand over the written invitation from Bangladesh foreign minister A H Mahmood Ali. Mamata readily agreed.
    "I have accepted the invitation and am happy and overjoyed with it. I love Bangladesh and its people. We were one people till Partition. We all have an emotional attachment with Bangladesh and if the people of Bangladesh are happy, we're also happy. It is mutually beneficial to have good ties with each other," the chief minister told TOI on Monday evening.
   Mamata recalled that she was the one to start 'Bhasa Divas' celebrations in Kolkata when she was a Lok Sabha MP, with money from her MP local area development fund. It has since become an annual feature in Bengal and Kolkata Municipal Corporation now funds the celebrations in Kolkata, she said.
  Mamata's proposed trip to Dhaka marks a major turnaround from her stance in September 2011 when she dropped out of a delegation headed by then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Dhaka to sign treaties on Teesta water sharing and exchange of enclaves. Mamata was opposed to both these treaties on the grounds that the Teesta agreement would lead to a sharp decline in Bengal's share of the river's waters and adversely affect farming in North Bengal, while the exchange of enclaves would mean loss of land for the state. Since then, Mamata has changed her stance and, recently, expressed support for the exchange of enclaves. It is learnt that she is also veering around to supporting the Teesta treaty, albeit with some of her concerns being addressed in a reworked pact.
   Mamata's opposition to the two pacts and her refusal to accompany Manmohan Singh to Bangladesh had led to a souring of relations. Subsequent efforts by bureaucrats and senior leaders from New Delhi, as well as emissaries from Dhaka, had failed to convince Mamata. Then came the CBI probe into the Saradha scam, which threw up the name of a Trinamool MP with suspected links to Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), and the unearthing of the Bangladeshi terror module in Burdwan.
   The acceptance of this invitation from Dhaka is seen as a masterstroke by Mamata since her presence at Bhasa Divas— which holds immense emotional significance for Bangladeshis — will endear her to the people of that country and also address concerns in Bangladesh about her. Experts say her move will help strengthen ties between Bengal and Bangladesh. "This visit is very significant for India-Bangladesh relations and it can be hoped that some progress will be made on the stalled Teesta water sharing agreement. This will be a landmark event and is also significant in terms of an enhanced security dialogue between the two countries," said Jayanta Kumar Ray, visiting professor at Calcutta University's Institute of Foreign Policy Studies.
      Bangladeshi envoy Zokey Ahmed's meeting with Mamata Banerjee last for an hour and 15 minutes. Ministers Subrata Mukherjee, Amit Mitra and Firhad Hakim and Kolkata mayor Sovon Chattopadhyay were present. It is learnt that Mamata will take along Mukherjee and Hakim, as well as a cultural team, to Bangladesh. She will fly to Dhaka on February 19 and return after attending the February 21 celebrations. While Bangladesh Deputy High Commission sources here said that the details of the visit are being worked out by Dhaka, it is learnt that Mamata will have meetings with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her senior cabinet ministers. The visit will afford Sheikh Hasina an opportunity to convince Mamata to change her mind on the Teesta treaty.
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      Mamata's decision to travel to Dhaka will certainly please the ruling dispensation in New Delhi and will strengthen Prime Minister Narendra Modi's pitch to enhance ties with Bangladesh. Mamata was being seen as a hurdle in better Indo-Bangla ties and with this new development, relations between the two countries can be taken to a new high, feel South Block mandarins.






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