Historic trip
September 6, 2011
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is the first Indian premier to visit Bangladesh since 1999. He is also the first prime minister from India's Congress party to visit in nearly 40 years.
"We attach the highest importance to further developing and strengthening our relations with Bangladesh," the Indian prime minister said in a statement issued before arriving. "Our partnership with Bangladesh is important for the stability and prosperity of our own northeast region."
Even though Bangladesh, formerly East Pakistan, won independence in 1971 with Indian military help, relations have been patchy ever since, marked by mutual distrust and low-level border clashes, which have proved a barrier to developing substantive trade and political ties.
However, there has been a substantial improvement in ties since Sheikh Hasina's pro-Indian Awami League party came to power in 2009.
Last year, India gave Bangladesh a billion-dollar soft loan, which was the biggest credit package New Delhi had ever earmarked for any country.
Series of landmark agreements
During Singh's two-day visit, a whole series of landmark agreements are due to be signed. The two sides are also expected to explore further cooperation in the power sector and enhance cross-border trade.
A key agreement to demarcate their 4,000-kilometer border definitively is expected to be signed. A home ministry official said this would comprehensively resolve outstanding border issues after decades of deaths and shootings on the unclear boundary.
Water-sharing deal doubtful
The two countries were also scheduled to sign a water sharing deal for the Teesta River. However, this was looking increasingly unlikely on Tuesday because of objections from West Bengal, the largest Indian state bordering Bangladesh.
The chief minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee, pulled out of Singh's delegation saying that the treaty conceded too much. The treaty would guarantee the flow of water to Bangladesh's most impoverished and water-starved northwestern districts.
Indian Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai said nothing would be done without consultation with the state governments. "Any agreement that we conclude will have to be acceptable to them and at the same time it has to be acceptable to Bangladesh," he said.
This is Prime Minister Manmohan Singh after he claimed in June this year that many Bangladeshis were "very anti-Indian." The remarks were posted on his official website before being removed with the explanation that they were "off the record."
But officials on both side of the border played down the comments ahead of Singh's visit. Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Dipu Moni said that the Indian prime minister's trip was "historic" and would "pave the way for a prosperous future for the whole region."
Author: Anne Thomas (AFP, AP)
Editor: Manasi Gopalakrishnan