At first, before making my statement here, I would like to pay my deep respect to all the language martyrs of Bangladesh. The people of Bangladesh are now remembering their sacrifices and paying their regards to the martyrs by organizing various programmes.

I am happy to be in Dhaka. On behalf of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, I will be extending a formal invitation to Bangladesh to attend the 14th SAARC Summit in Delhi from April 3rd-4th, 2007. In recent weeks, I have travelled to other SAARC capitals to deliver similar invitations. As you know, this is the SAARC tradition and practice.

During my day-long stay in Dhaka, I will be paying courtesy calls on H.E. President Iajuddin Ahmed, the Hon’ble Chief Adviser to Caretaker Government Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed and former Prime Ministers Begum Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina. I will also be holding a meeting with the Adviser on Foreign Affairs, H.E. Dr. Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury.

Though my visit is in the context of the forthcoming SAARC Summit, I intend to reiterate during these meetings the high importance attached by the Government of India to our relations with Bangladesh. I will also be discussing various bilateral issues during my meetings. India wishes Bangladesh well and will continue to work to develop good neighbourly friendly relations between our two countries.

19th February, 2007

 

Statement by

External Affairs Minister on Departure from Dhaka

I have had a very useful and productive visit to Bangladesh today. In the forenoon, I paid a courtesy call on the President of Bangladesh, Dr Iajuddin Ahmed and extended an invitation to Bangladesh to participate in the 14th SAARC Summit being held in New Delhi from April 3-4, 2007. I had detailed discussions with the Chief Advisor of Caretaker Government, Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed. He has graciously agreed to attend the SAARC Summit. I also called on former Prime Minister & Chairperson of Bangladesh Nationalist Party, Begum Khaleda Zia and former Prime Minister & President of Awami League Sheikh Hasina.

During my meetings with the Chief Advisor Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed and Foreign Advisor Dr. Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, the discussions centered on bilateral relations and the forthcoming 14th SAARC Summit. In the context of bilateral relations, both sides agreed to take steps to place bilateral relations on an `irreversible higher trajectory’. With the view to providing impetus to bilateral economic linkages, I have announced that India will grant unconditional duty free access to import of 2 million pieces of readymade garments from Bangladesh. The issue of restrictions being placed on import of cosmetics from Bangladesh has also been resolved. The Bangladesh side has been kind enough to offer early operationalisation of Sealdah-Joydevpur passenger train service and to build a bridge over Raghnacherra river. Both sides have agreed to jointly combat terrorism, which today poses the most grave challenge to our society and threatens the rapid economic development of our nations.

The discussions on SAARC focused on ensuring the success of the forthcoming SAARC Summit and early and full implementation of SAFTA. Both sides have agreed to lay emphasis on better connectivity among SAARC countries, including between India and Bangladesh. Further, we have also agreed on the establishment of a South Asia University as a centre of excellence.

India attaches the highest importance to its relations with Bangladesh. I have reiterated India’s desire to strengthen and further enhance the friendly cooperative relations between our two countries. It was agreed that further discussions would be held in Delhi and Dhaka to take forward the friendly relations.

19th February, 2007 

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