Published 21:36 IST, September 12th 2019
Sheikh Hasina hopeful of India's positive response over Teesta deal
Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina conveyed that she is hopeful and confident that the unresolved problems between the neighbouring countries will soon find solutions
The Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, recently hoped for the best when she expressed her desire to receive a positive response from her Indian counterparts over different kind of problems that still remain unresolved between both the countries that included the Teesta River Agreement which was in the pipeline to be inked on September 6, 2011.
A hopeful Sheikh Hasina
The Bangladeshi Prime Minister conveyed to the Parliament on September 10 that she is hopeful and confident that the problems between neighbouring countries Bangladesh and India will be amicably solved soon enough before she visits India. PM Sheikh Hasina will be visiting India for a period of four days from October 3-6 to attend the India Economic Summit of the World Economic Forum to be held in the national capital Delhi from 3-4 October while taking the "Innovating for India" and "Impacting the World" theme into consideration.
"We are optimistic that the unresolved issues between the two countries will be sorted out soon. We hope we will get positive results over the aforesaid issues before my visit to India," Hasina told the Parliament on Wednesday.
A two-way dialogue will be held between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his counterpart Shiekh Hasina on October 5. The Teesta River Agreement will also be talked about between the two Prime Ministers.
With Bangladesh having good and healthy relations with India, PM Hasina has said that new things have opened up in the areas of development and cooperation. Numerous agreements on communications, energy, power, trade, environment, education, and infrastructure have already been inked between the two countries.
The process of working together has improved considerably on topics such as cybersecurity, aerospace research, the peaceful use of nuclear energy, and aerospace research.
About Teesta River Agreement
The Bangladeshi Prime Minister said that the Teesta water-sharing agreement is being treated with utmost importance and being discussed at the highest political level. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his last visit to Bangladesh, discussed to solve the water sharing issue with the help of the concerned state governments.
The Teesta River is a 309-km river flowing through the State of Sikkim and is very important for Bangladesh during the months of December to March as they need half of the River's supply while India controls 55% of the River. This led to the formulation of the Teesta River Agreement between the two countries that was supposed to be inked on September 6, 2011, during former PM Manmohan Singh's visit but the agreement was shelved due to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's repeated objections.
(With inputs from ANI)
Updated 22:23 IST, September 12th 2019