India, Bangladesh Agree on Mega Project to Conserve Teesta River

Sending a technical team by India to Bangladesh soon for a mega project to conserve and manage Teesta river, moving ahead to start negotiations on a comprehensive trade pact and boosting defence ties were among major outcomes of talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina on Saturday 22 June.

The two sides signed 10 agreements providing for bolstering ties in a range of critical areas such as digital domain, maritime sphere, blue economy, railways, space, green technology, health and medicine.

Both sides also firmed up a "futuristic vision" for bringing transformative cooperation between the two "trusted" neighbours in a raft of new areas.

A major focus of the talks between the two prime ministers was to explore ways to shore up India-Bangladesh cooperation in digital and energy connectivity even as both sides resolved to work towards peaceful management of borders between the two countries.

In his remarks to the media, Modi, describing people-to-people contacts as the foundation of ties between the two nations, said India will launch an e-medical visa facility for people from Bangladesh coming to India for medical treatment. India has also decided to open a new assistant high commission in Rangpur.

"We have decided to start negotiations at the technical level for the renewal of the 1996 Ganga Water Treaty," Prime Minister Modi said.

"On the conservation and management of the Teesta river in Bangladesh, a technical team will soon visit Bangladesh for talks," he said in his media statement. The mega project assumed significance as China too apparently showed interest in it. Under the project, it is envisaged to build large reservoirs and related infrastructure to manage and conserve Teesta river water. The move on the project comes amid a long-pending proposal to have a pact on sharing of Teesta water between the two countries.

The Bangladesh prime minister began her two-day visit to India on Friday.