Diplomatic Correspondent

Departing Indian High Commissioner Vikram Kumar Doraiswami has highly praised the dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina under which Bangladesh-India ties and the overall socio-economic development of Bangladesh have reached a new height.

Describing Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's just concluded four-day State visit to India as "highly significant and extremely successful" with "very strong deliverables" on all areas of important cooperation from trade, connectivity to water sharing.

"So our goal essentially was to ensure that the relationship goes forward with more trade, more cooperation," Doraiswami told reporters during an interaction at Old India House in Gulshan on Wednesday (Sept 14) evening.
He also said the existing bilateral relationship would further be consolidated in future under the leadership of the Bangladesh Prime Minister, hoping that the next generations of the two countries can get benefit from the existing relations.

The Indian envoy particularly highlighted some of the deliverables, one being the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on water sharing of the Kushiyara River, the first water sharing agreement that the two countries had since the Ganges Water Treaty in 1996.

The second thing is the announcement by the two leaders of a decision to start negotiations for a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between the two countries.

"Third, I think the, the sense of focus on transport and connectivity was very strong. A very good package was negotiated and finalized in terms of railway connectivity in particular," he said.

Doraiswami also said the Government of India intended to invite the Bangladesh Prime Minister to be one of the guests at the G20 Summit, which India will host first time in September 2023.

"And of course that has now been announced. So as you will understand, it is not just an invitation for the Summit level process. It is an invitation for the totality of the G20 meetings during India's Chairmanship," Doraiswami said, terming it a very big deal.

India will assume the Presidency of the G20 for one year from December 1, 2022 to November 30, 2023. Under its Presidency, India is expected to host over 200 G20 meetings across the country, beginning December 2022. The G20 Leaders' Summit at the level of Heads of State / Government is scheduled to be held on September 9 and 10, 2023 in New Delhi.

Essentially all the guest countries including Bangladesh will have an opportunity to be part of the larger process of negotiating outcomes for the totality of G20.

The Bangladesh Prime Minister paid a 4-day State visit to India from September 5-8 at the invitation of Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi.

Vikram K. Doraiswami has been appointed as the next High Commissioner of India to the United Kingdom. He is expected to leave Dhaka soon to take up the assignment in UK shortly.

Meanwhile, the government of India announced Pranay Kumar Verma as the next High Commissioner of India to Bangladesh. Verma is expected to take up the assignment.