India, Bangladesh to strengthen cultural ties

New Delhi: India and Bangladesh will strengthen cultural exchanges and will improve institutional coordination conservation and restoration, drama, literature, fine arts and performing arts, official sources said Tuesday.

The views emerged after a high-level eight-member delegation led by Abul Kalam Azad, minister of culture and information, Republic of Bangladesh, called on Kumari Selja, minister of culture here. The two exchanged ideas about capacity building and training officers and technical staff from Bangladesh in conservation and management of archaeological sites, said officials. India and Bangladesh share close historical, cultural and ethnic links. The cultural agreement between the two countries was first signed in Bangladesh capital Dhaka in December 1972. Selja has invited Azad to the Culture Ministers Conference to be held in New Delhi in February 2013. The Bangladesh delegation will visit Kolkata to present replicas of the Padma and Chapola houseboats Wednesday to Visva Bharati University in Shantiniketan and Rabindra Bharati University in Kolkata. Rabindranath Tagore had composed some of his works in the houseboats on the Padma river while overseeing his family estates in Silaidah, Shahzadpur and Patisar for a decade from 1890. Azad`s visit comes in the wake of the recently concluded 150th birth anniversary commemoration of Tagore. IANS