BD, India to sign five MoUs to boost trade, cooperation

Bangladesh will ink five memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with India in the 5th Joint Consultative Committee (JCC) meeting scheduled to be held in New Delhi on Friday to boost trade and cooperation between the two countries.
Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen and his Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj will ink the MoU, discuss early resolution of the Rohingya crisis and other bi-lateral issues related with the trade cooperation and connectivity.
Momen left Dhaka on Wednesday night with a high powered delegation including secretaries and senior officials in his maiden overseas tour since the Awami League government was formed for the third consecutive term to attend the 5th India-Bangladesh Joint Consultative Commission (JCC) meeting.
"Before sitting with his Indian counterpart, Foreign Minister will attend a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday morning.
He will also meet former Indian President Pranab
Mukherjee at the residence in New Delhi," a senior official of the Foreign Ministry said.
"Three MoUs involved cooperation of the two countries in graft investigation while the two others were over TV broadcasting and medicinal plants," a senior official of the Foreign Ministry told the Daily Observer. He said Bangladesh's Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) and India's Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) were expected to sign the first MoU, state-run Bangladesh Television (BTV) and Prasar Bharti of India the second and the two health ministers would ink the third one.
India's Union State Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri will also host a dinner for him on Thursday, he added.
The Foreign Minister will lead a high level delegation comprising secretaries of different ministries and departmental chiefs to the JCC meeting with his Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj to be accompanied by officials concerned of her country. "During the meeting with the Indian Prime Minister, Foreign Minister will seek more Indian support to resolve the Rohingya crisis," Foreign Ministry sources confirmed.
"Among other things, we want to consult with my counterpart about the early resolution of the Rohingya crisis as it may affect the regional stability," the official said.
Bangladesh gave makeshift refuge to over one million Rohingya people on humanitarian ground as they fled their homeland in Myanmar to evade a brutal military crackdown. Officials said the entire gamut of bilateral relations ranging from trade and investment, security cooperation, connectivity, border management, defense cooperation, energy, shipping, and people-to-people exchanges were expected to come up for discussion in the JCC meet. Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi will host a dinner on Friday in honour of the minister and his delegation.
Wrapping up his three-day visit, the Bangladesh Foreign Minister will leave New Delhi for Dhaka on Saturday morning. The last JCC meeting was held in Dhaka on October 22-23, 2017 when Sushma Swaraj led the Indian delegation.