India has agreed to provide Bangladesh with a corridor to import hydroelectricity from Nepal and Bhutan.
Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen disclosed this while briefing the media after the foreign office consultations between Bangladesh and India here on Wednesday.
The Indian side, led by Indian Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra, pointed out that Bangladesh should strengthen its power transmission network and capacity to use this corridor properly, said the foreign secretary of Bangladesh.
"The Indian side said, we can help you bring power from Nepal and India up to the India-Bangladesh border, but it will not benefit you if your transmission line remains weak," he added.
In response to a query, the foreign secretary said that they (foreign office) will convey the Indian observation to the concerned ministry so that the work for constructing transmission lines on both sides can go on simultaneously.
The Bangladesh side mentioned that both India and Bangladesh can work together to strengthen the transmission capacity and network.
He also noted that when such a project will be taken up, it can also be included in the Indian Line of Credit (LoC).
The meeting also discussed the progress of the energy pipeline between India and Bangladesh, through which Bangladesh will import diesel from India and India will transmit fuel from one state province to another via Bangladesh.
During the meeting Bangladesh urged India to resolve pending issues like signing of the water sharing deal on the Teesta River, removing the non-tariff barriers for Bangladeshi products, and to stop border killing.
About the Teesta deal, the Indian side said that solution to this issue lies with the state of West Bengal. However, Delhi will try its best to make it happen.
About the border killing, the Indian side said that they also don't want the death of a single Bangladeshi on the border and they're trying to bring down such incidents.
In this regard, they also stressed the need for more collaboration between the border security forces of the two countries so that the criminal activities along the border can be prevented.
In the meeting, both the countries agreed to expedite the process for signing the comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA).
The meeting also discussed issues related to the Rohingya crisis and India has assured Bangladesh to provide all kinds of cooperation to expedite the repatriation process, the Bangladesh, foreign secretary said.
Responding to a question, he said that the issue related to importing power from the Adani Group was not separately discussed at the meeting.
As a whole, we have discussed strengthening the cooperation in the power and energy sector between the two countries so that the agreements we have signed can be implemented in due time, he added.
Responding to another question, foreign secretary also said that during the discussion any issue related to the next general election in Bangladesh was not raised by the Indian side.
