India, Bangladesh keen on Japan for partnership on connectivity

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar being greeted by his Bangladeshi counterpart Abul Kalam Abdul Momen upon his arrival, in Dhaka. (Credits: PTI)

New Delhi: Keen on increasing connectivity in the Bay of Bengal region, Indian and Bangladeshi foreign ministers discussed Japan as the third country for partnership on connectivity in the region. India's external affairs minister Dr S Jaishankar was on a one-day Dhaka visit on Thursday (March 4), during which he held talks with Bangladeshi foreign minister Dr. A.K. Abdul Momen with one of the key focus areas being on connectivity.

During the joint statements, EAM Jaishankar said, "If we can get connectivity right between India and Bangladesh, I can tell u the entire logistics, the whole geo-economics of the region will change, the Bay of Bengal will look very different."

He explained, "both of us believed that this is possible, a lot of our conversation was on this specific subject, we actually feel we should even involve third countries. We talked about Japan as a possibility because both of us have very good relations with Japan and Japan is involved in connectivity projects in the Bay of Bengal. I would pick connectivity as a big goal."

Japan has been involved in a number of connectivity projects in India's north east. Japanese Official Development Assistance (ODA) stands at over Rs 1600 crore in India's northeast with projects, many of them connectivity in seven states of the region. The projects include Guwahati sewerage projects and Sikkim major district roads projects.

In Bangladesh, Japan is involved in projects like Dhaka mass rapid transit development project, kanchpur, Meghna, Gumti second bridge Construction, Chittagong city outer ring road project and Jamuna railway bridge construction project. 

EAM's visit comes ahead of Indian PM Narendra Modi's visit to the country on 26th and 27th of March as the country celebrates its 50th Independence anniversary. During EAM's visit, the Teesta water issue was also discussed, with EAM in response to a question saying, "We did discuss it. And we have a meeting of our water resources secretaries soon. They will be discussing it further. I think you all know the position of Indian Government. That position has no change. “

Prime Minister Modi will be in Dhaka for the Mujib Borsho celebrations as well as the Golden Jubilee of Bangladesh’s independence and 50 years of Bangladesh-India diplomatic relations. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, India reached out to Bangladesh and just recently sent covid vaccines to the country.

Bangladesh FM A.K. Abdul Momen said, "We thankfully acknowledge the collaborative initiative of the two countries in implementing the vaccination program against the ongoing pandemic. As you all are aware, Bangladesh has purchased the COVID vaccine from Serum Institute of India and the Government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is implementing the nationwide vaccination program free of cost."