Foreign minister S Jaishankar met Bangladesh foreign adviser Touhid Hossain on the sidelines of Indian Ocean Conference in Muscat on Sunday amid tense bilateral ties over the presence of ousted ex-PM Sheikh Hasina in India since last August.
While Jaishankar said the conversation was focused on the bilateral relationship and cooperation under Bimstec, a Bangladesh readout said Hossain requested India to consider a huddle of Saarc standing committee that hasn’t met since the 2016 Uri attack when India decided to block the process because of Pakistan’s support to cross-border terror.
Sunday’s talks come ahead of a possible meeting between PM Modi and Bangladesh chief adviser Md Yunus on the margins of Bimstec summit in Thailand on April 3-4.
India attempts to promote Bimstec, which excludes Pakistan
If it happens, it would be the first bilateral meeting between the two after Yunus assumed office. Both Modi and Yunus are likely to attend the Bimstec summit in person. Modi had discussed concerns related to Bangladesh in the meeting with Trump last week.
In his meeting with Jaishankar, Hossain also called for talks for renewal of Ganges Water Treaty, adding both sides recognised the challenges in the relationship and the need for joint efforts to address those.
According to Dhaka, ahead of talks between border forces this week, it was hoped that various border related issues would be discussed and resolved during the meeting. Both sides recognised the challenges the two neighbours are facing in terms of bilateral relations and discussed the necessity to work together to address those, it said in its statement on the Jaishankar-Hossain meeting. Jaishankar also met his counterparts from other Bimstec member-states like Nepal and Bhutan in Muscat. India has sought to promote the inter-regional Bimstec, which excludes Pakistan and counts Thailand as a member, as a more relevant forum for regional cooperation and connectivity, as Saarc remains practically defunct.
The mention of Bimstec in Jaishankar’s post is important also because Bangladesh will officially take over as the chair of the group from Thailand at the summit.
“As the chair, Bangladesh will have the opportunity to lead Bimstec, take initiatives for cooperation in different sectors by working together in tandem with all the member states and this will be an opportunity for Bangladesh to re-demonstrate its commitment to the world,” said Bimstec secretary-general I M Pandey last week.
Jaishankar is learnt to have conveyed India’s desire for a constructive and mutually beneficial relationship with Bangladesh in a positive atmosphere.