India will signal its seriousness in engaging Bangladesh with a special gesture: finance minister Pranab Mukherjee will personally go to Dhaka on Saturday to sign a $1-billion credit agreement, the largest package that India has ever given to any country. Mukherjee’s personal appearance is deemed crucial because PM Manmohan Singh wants to send an important message to its eastern neighbour, that Bangladesh is very high on the priority list. This signal is important because there were speculation lately that Bangladesh was unhappy about the slow progress in bilateral matters after the visit of its PM Sheikh Hasina.
Mukherjee is expected to meet the foreign and finance ministers in Dhaka as well as have a one-on-one meeting with the PM herself, before returning on Saturday night. He will announce a gift of 3 lakh tonnes of rice, but much more important, will tell the Dhaka government that India is ready to schedule a meeting of the joint boundary working group after the Eid festival. The boundary negotiations involve a “package” agreement including demarcation of the 6.1km disputed border, enclaves and adverse possession in an all-in-one deal. “That means progress is necessarily slow,” said an official.
On the other hand, the joint river commission has even exchanged ideas on Teesta water sharing with Bangladesh giving a draft memorandum of understanding and India a set of principles. Within both documents lie the contours of an agreement, said sources. In a related sector, Bangladesh and India have now agreed to conduct dredging on the Ichchamati river as well as build embankments which was a no-no earlier.
But Indian officials are most bullish about the prospect of cooperation in the power sector. After Bangladesh succeeded in getting an electric cable under the Tin Bigha corridor to power up the Dahagram and Angarpota enclaves, NTPC is working on a joint venture with Bangladesh for thermal power projects in Chittagong and Khulna. Bangladesh has been hesitating on Chittagong, and Mukherjee will attempt to convince the leadership that the project would be on the lines of the one executed in Sri Lanka recently.
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