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KATHMANDU, MARCH 2
Bangladesh-India Friendship Dialogue is a forum for bringing together key stakeholders, including think tanks and civil society in both countries, to discuss relevant issues.
On February 18-19, to mark the 50th anniversary of Bangladesh-India relations, the 10th round of the dialogue was held in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, India on. MPs, policy makers and intellectuals of the two countries took part in it.
The meeting was jointly organised by the Bharat Foundation and the Bangladesh Foundation for Regional Studies to revive Bangabandhu's vision and to cooperate on matters related to security and developing social and economic relations.
Bangladesh's State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam told the meeting that Bangladesh's recent commendable economic growth had created new opportunities for its partners. He said Bangladesh believes in peace and stability so that each country can devote its resources and energy to the cause of advancing the welfare of its own people.
The friendship dialogue is a kind of public diplomacy in strengthening people-to-people relations. Some long pending disputes can be resolved through this type of initiative, where misconceptions are removed by sharing ideas and exchanging views.
Every year, new challenges crop up in the bilateral relations of India and Bangladesh. For example, incidents of vandalism of the mandapas or allegations of torture of Hindus in Bangladesh during Durga Puja in October last year had brought discomfort in Dhaka-New Delhi relations. There is a need for dialogue where one can talk openly to each other, a separate space for saying things that cannot be said on government platforms.
For the past seven to eight years, the platform has served as a platform for exchanging views between the two ruling parties of the two countries - the BJP and the Awami League.
At this critical juncture, the India's RSS on one side and a heavyweight team from Bangladesh on the other tried to make sincere efforts to resolve their differences. Both parties made commitments to work to increase trade, connectivity, eliminate misunderstandings between the two countries and cooperate in education, health and tourism. Basically, it was an attempt to take bilateral relations to the next level.
The two sides have recently taken steps to increase trade and connectivity – many ports, ICPs, new roads and railway lines have come up. The Friendship Bridge over the Feni River was recently commissioned.
Given these developments in building infrastructure, the participants discussed ways to increase trade and investment.
A version of this article appears in the print on March 3, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
