Harsh Vardhan Shringla also said that Bangladesh is one of our most important development partners. (file)
New Delhi:
Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan said Bangladesh is the central pillar of India’s Neighborhood First policy, Dhaka is New Delhi’s largest trading partner in South Asia and bilateral trade between the two countries has grown at an unprecedented rate of 14 per cent. Shringla on Tuesday.
Speaking at the special briefing of the Ministry of External Affairs, the Foreign Secretary also said that India is the most important economic partner of Bangladesh.
“Bangladesh is a central pillar of our Neighborhood First policy. It is also the relationship where this policy intersects the element of our Act East policy. India is, today, Bangladesh’s most important economic partner and Bangladesh India’s largest in South Asia is a trading partner. India is the second largest trading partner of Bangladesh.”
Recalling Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Bangladesh earlier this year, the Foreign Secretary said that “it is the only country that has been visited by PM Modi, President Ram Nath Kovind and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.
“In March, our Prime Minister made a state visit to Bangladesh to join the festivities triveni. It is of great importance that we consider our relationship with Bangladesh that this is the first post-pandemic visit by both the President and the Prime Minister. It is the destination of the visits. Minister. This is the only country which has been visited by PM, President and External Affairs Minister in a short span of time in the recent past.”
The Foreign Secretary said: “India and Bangladesh jointly celebrated Friendship Day on 6 December. It is jointly celebrated with New Delhi and Dhaka and also in capitals around the world. Both the Prime Ministers issued special messages on the occasion. did.”
“Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, bilateral trade grew at an unprecedented rate of 14 per cent from US$ 9.46 billion in 2019 to $10.78 billion in 2021,” he said.
Shri Shringla also said that Bangladesh is also one of our most important development partners both in terms of value and extent of cooperation. “We give a third of our total global development assistance under credit to Bangladesh.”
“In addition, we are expanding various projects to bring direct benefits to the local community. India Bangladesh is better connected than ever before. Road, rail, air, river and coastal connectivity is increasing. Multi-modal transport that Today it is very possible to use more than one of these channels.”
“The combined energy sector continues to grow, with our power grids connected to the east and west with over 1160 MW of power from India and Bangladesh,” he said.
President Kovind will be on a three-day state visit to Bangladesh from tomorrow. The visit is in the context of the 50th Victory Day celebrations in Dhaka in which Bangladesh President Abdul Hamid has invited President Kovind to represent India as the guest of honour.
President Kovind is scheduled to leave for Delhi on December 17.
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