Hasina, Modi to meet on sidelines of BIMSTEC Summit in Nepal Aug 31

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi will sit in a meeting on the sidelines of Bay of Bangle Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) Summit in Nepal on August 31. "The talks will focus on two specific issues from Bangladesh side (a) for reviewing the Indian cross border power trade policy so that it helps benefit other SAARC nations (b) seeking support from the Indian side to expedite Rohingya repatriation process. The ongoing political and border security issues will also come up for discussion," a senior official of the Foreign Ministry told the Daily Observer on Wednesday.

The BIMSTEC summit is going to be held in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, on August 30 and 31. During a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi in April 2017, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina urged him (Modi) to facilitate cross-border power trade between Bangladesh and Nepal over the Indian territory. A joint statement was also issued at that time on the occasion of the state visit of the Bangladeshi prime minister to India. Bangladesh wants to purchase power directly from Nepal. Recently, it signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Nepal. However, Bangladesh wants India's support for a transmission line.

It will be the third meeting of the heads of government of the two neighboring countries in a year. A meeting between the two leaders was held on the sidelines of the Commonwealth Summit in London in late April and another meeting was on the inauguration ceremony of the Bangladesh Bhaban at Vishwa Bharati University in Santiniketan in May. The official of the Foreign Ministry said the ongoing Assam's NRC debate and border security will be discussed in the meeting.

According to Indian media reports, Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself will talk to Hasina about Assam's NRC. Besides, he will speak about co-operation to resolve the Rohingya problem. Bilateral trade and investment will also be discussed. BIMSTEC is an organisation of seven nations of South and Southeast Asia. They are Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan, and Nepal.

As per decision of the 6th BIMSTEC Ministerial Meeting held in 2004, the summit should be held every two years as far as possible. However, till date, summit meetings were held only in 2004, 2008 and 2014.el at Kathmandu on Saturday. On Saturday, Nepalese energy experts at a dialogue proposed for reviewing the Indian cross border power trade policy so that it helps benefit other SAARC nations. The dialogue styled 'Power Sector Cooperation between Bangladesh and Nepal' was arranged by Bangladesh Embassy in Nepal.

Speakers said that if trilateral or multilateral parties can be tagged in the Indian cross border power policy then Nepal, Bangladesh and other SAARC countries will be benefitted.