BD seeks coop from India to settle unresolved issues including Teesta

Staff Reporter :
Bangladesh has sought cooperation from India to settle all unresolved issues including the water sharing of Teesta River, the lifeline of the northern district.
“We have sought cooperation from India to deal with the unresolved issues. We are expecting their cooperation to immediately execute all agreements about water sharing of the trans-boundary rivers including Teesta,” Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen said.
He came up with the statement following a Foreign Office Consultation (FOC) meeting with Indian Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra after two years at the Foreign Service Academy in the capital.
Talking about the burning issue of border killing, Masud Bin Momen, “The border killings have been reduced substantially. We are determined to downsize it to zero. We hope the Indian government will take initiative.”
About the FOC, he said, both sides have discussed the entire gamut of bilateral interests. “As a neighbouring country and important friend, India will settle pending issues. We seek their cooperation in this regard. We lay emphasis on it to work together.”
Emphasising on the execution of the agreements of trans-boundary rivers, he said, “We hope India will cooperate to deal with the water sharing issues of all trans-boundary rivers including Teesta. We have told India to take necessary initiatives to implement the agreement on Kushiara River that was signed during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit to India in September last year.”
In reply to a query about the electricity transmission from India, he said,
“We did not talk about the supply of electricity from Adani Group. But we have talked on electricity transmission line. India will assist us to import electricity from Nepal and Bhutan. But Indian side told us to improve the capacity of our transmission line. We will talk about it with the line ministry.”
The Foreign Secretary also said that they have talked about the implementation of Bangladesh-India Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) and removal of the tariff barriers between the two countries.”
He also said that the meeting has also focused on the role of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and Border Security Force (BSF) to resist border smuggling. They hope the border killing would reduce.
As a maiden visit to Bangladesh, Kwatra reached here on Tuesday and held courtesy calls on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen.
The last FOC was held in New Delhi on 29 January 2021.