UNB, Dhaka:

India has conveyed that it will continue to work with Bangladesh to fulfill the shared aspirations of the people of both countries for prosperity, security and development.

Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Pranay Verma had gone to call on Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus and he had conveyed that, said Randhir Jaiswal, Official Spokesperson at the Ministry of External Affairs, on Thursday.

The High Commissioner had also conveyed India’s commitment to taking forward the relationship in accordance with their respective national priorities. “So that is how approach to our ties with Bangladesh are at present,” said the MEA Spokesperson while responding to a question in a weekly briefing in New Delhi.

Responding to a separate question, the Spokesperson told US Assistant Secretary Donald Lu is visiting India and has several engagements.

He is attending the Ideas Summit Conference, which is being organized by the US-India Business Council.

TRADE AND COMMERCE

Jaiswal said trade and commerce have started with Bangladesh.

Trucks are plying between the two countries carrying essential commodities and whatever else that is being traded between India and Bangladesh, he said.

On the projects part, he said several of the projects have been impacted because of the situation in Bangladesh.

“Right now, they have been disrupted and these projects will recommence when the security situation in Bangladesh permits our personnel, who are working on those projects, and they can return and they can resume work,” said the Spokesperson.

The project between India’s Numaligarh and Parbatipur in Bangladesh through which they are supplying high-speed diesel is in operation since March of 2023.

“There are some added issues in regard to this friendship project, extension of the pipeline on which we have made some proposal to Bangladesh and we await their comeback on it,” he mentioned.

ADANI PROJECT

About the Adani project, the Spokesperson said, “What you are referring to is a private project. It is bound by a buyer-seller agreement between two parties. One party happens to be an Indian party and the other party happens to be a Bangladeshi party.”

He said it is for both these parties to decide what they want out of this arrangement.

“It is a buyer-seller…it is a private engagement. So they will have to sit and sort out issues if they have in this particular engagement,” said the MEA Spokesperson.