EAM Jaishankar, Bangladesh envoy Hamidullah discuss advancing bilateral ties

New Delhi, March 20 (IANS) External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar met Riaz Hamidullah, the High Commissioner of Bangladesh to India, in New Delhi on Friday with discussions focusing on advancing bilateral ties.

In a post on X, EAM Jaishankar stated, "Met with High Commissioner Riaz Hamidullah of Bangladesh. Our conversation was focused on advancing our bilateral ties."

India on Thursday said that it continues to assist Bangladesh and other neighbouring countries on the issue of energy supply requirements while balancing domestic needs, refining capacity, and diesel availability.

While addressing a weekly media briefing on Thursday, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal reiterated that India has received energy requests from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Maldives, and other neighbouring countries.

He mentioned that India has been supplying diesel to Bangladesh since 2007 through various modes of transportation and continues to assist the South Asian nation, along with other neighbouring countries.

“About energy, we have received requests from several of our neighbouring countries, and I had spoken about this earlier as well. We have received requests from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Maldives, and some other neighbouring countries. As I had indicated earlier, India has been supplying diesel to Bangladesh since 2007 through various modes of transportation. We are continuing to assist Bangladesh and our other neighbours even currently. This is being done while factoring in our own requirements, refining capacity, and diesel availability," said Jaiswal.

With the energy shipping routes having been impacted due to the ongoing West Asia conflict, he mentioned that the supply of LPG remains a matter of concern.

"Therefore, we are prioritising domestic consumption and domestic consumers first. Their needs will be taken care of, and then we will decide how to manage LPG supply to commercial establishments. However, this remains a matter of concern due to the shortage of supply.”

Earlier this month, India's High Commissioner to Bangladesh, Pranay Verma, held a series of meetings with ministers of the newly-formed Tarique Rahman led Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) government, discussing ways to enhance bilateral cooperation between both countries.

According to the Indian High Commission in Dhaka, Verma called on Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, Bangladesh’s Minister of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives to explore various areas of common interest, including strengthening cooperation in local governance structures and rural development.

Both sides agreed to strengthen bilateral engagement in areas such as rural economy, agricultural cooperatives, financial empowerment at grassroots, etc.

“High Commissioner underlined that India-Bangladesh relations are founded on people-to-people ties and that India remains ready to engage with Bangladesh in a positive, constructive, and forward-looking manner to promote people-centric cooperation in all domains based on mutual interest and mutual benefit,” the Indian High Commission posted on X.

Verma also met Hafiz Uddin Ahmad, Bangladesh’s Minister of Liberation War Affairs, reaffirming the strong historical bonds between the two countries rooted in the shared sacrifices during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War.

“They underlined the importance of working together on the basis of mutual respect and mutual trust to further strengthen people-to-people ties between the two countries,” said the Indian High Commission.

--IANS

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