Nepal will get access to Bangladesh’s ports through road, rail, and waterways as both the countries are have agreed to expand the connectivity.
Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen came up with the statement while briefing reporters on Tuesday on the two-day visit of Nepalese President Bidya Devi Bhandari to Dhaka.
“As per the direction of our Prime Minister we want to turn Bangladesh into a multimodal connectivity hub of the region. With this in view, a number of initiatives are under process to enhance cross-border connectivity with Nepal” the minister said.
Momen informed that the two countries have decided to include the Rohanpur-Singbad rail route in the Nepal-Bangladesh transit protocol during the visit.
“Nepal is interested to have access to Chittagong, Mongla and Payra sea ports of Bangladesh and both the countries have agreed to expedite the process of finalising the modalities in this regard” he mentioned.
The foreign minister also informed that Bangladesh has welcomed Nepal’s proposal to use the domestic air network of Bangladesh and to start flight operations between Syedpur airport of Bangladesh and Biratnagar of Nepal.
Both the countries agreed to include more routes in the BBIN Moto Vehicles Agreement signed in 2015 to facilitate the movement of vehicles among Bangladesh, Nepal, India and Bhutan.
Responding to a question at the press briefing, State Minister M Shahriar Alam said since the Bhutan parliament is yet to ratify the BBIN protocol, the other three countries are considering starting it among themselves.
The foreign minister said that cooperation in the power sector was also discussed during the meetings with the Nepalese president.
Responding to a question, he informed that US President Joe Biden would give a message on the Golden Jubilee of the independence of Bangladesh.
‘The US ambassador to Bangladesh told me that a process is underway to send the message,” he added.
Replying to another query, he said that so far there was no plan to accord any public reception to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is scheduled to arrive in Dhaka on Friday on a two-day visit.
