Indian foreign secy meets BD counterpart
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Visiting Indian Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar on Monday said he discussed a wide range of issues, including Saarc, Bimstec and bilateral issues, with his Bangladesh counterpart.
‘We had a very good discussion....I look forward to further meetings today,’ he told reporters after his meeting with Foreign Secretary M Shahidul Haque at the Foreign Ministry.
Asked whether they discussed Teesta issues at the meeting, the Indian Foreign Secretary parried the question saying, ‘That's all I would like to say at this time.’
He arrived here on Monday morning to discuss a wide range of bilateral issues between Bangladesh and India.
The Indian Foreign Secretary landed at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport around 11:35am.
Foreign Secretary M Shahidul Haque welcomed his Indian counterpart at the airport.
Indian High Commissioner in Dhaka Pankaj Saran was also present at the airport.
The flight was delayed for nearly two hours.
Though his stay will be barely of 24 hours, Jaishankar has come apparently with a lot of tasks as India is keen to extend support to Bangladesh in many areas not confining to two major pending issues -- land boundary agreement and Teesta deal - between the two countries, said a diplomatic source.
He will meet Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali at about 3 pm.
Jaishankar will meet Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at 6:30pm at Parliament Bhaban.
Though the Foreign Ministry official did not say anything about what to be discussed, diplomatic sources said issues like power generation and distribution, infrastructure development like road, housing and port development and investment in prospective areas are likely to come up for discussions during his interaction with the government.
How Bangladesh and India can work together as India has a plan to launch Satellite for Saarc Region in 2016 can also be discussed.
Proposing satellite diplomacy with a view to playing a key role in the development of the region, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier asked Indian space agency ISRO to develop a Saarc satellite which can be dedicated as a 'gift' to the neighbours.