The Foreign Minister of Bangladesh, Dr. A K Abdul Momen, recently said that the ‘Swadhinata Sarak’ between Bangladesh and India will be operational on March 21, 2021.
Key facts to know
- The minister said, that the road remains functional on the Indian side.
- He also said, that the road will be connected through Mujibnagar, Meherpur district of Bangladesh.
- It has been decided to inaugurate the Chilahati-Haldirbari rail link that was operational till 1965. The rail link will be inaugurated during the summit meeting between the prime minister of India and Bangladesh on December 17, 2020.
India-Bangladesh Relation
Both the countries are South Asian neighbors. The countries established the diplomatic relations in March 1972, 2h3n Prime Minister Indira Gandhi made her visit to Dhaka. The countries signed the “Indo-Bangladesh Treaty of Friendship, Co-operation and Peace Relations”. This treaty is also known as the ‘Indira-Mujib Treaty of 1972. Both the countries are members of SAARC, BIMSTEC, IORA and the Commonwealth. They share many cultural ties.
India-Bangladesh Development cooperation
India plays an active role in pursing the development activity in Bangladesh. In the year 2011, India has given 750 million dollars loans to develop Bangladesh infrastructure. India further extended a 1 billion dollars soft loan in 2014 for infrastructure development. 862 million dollar was provided as line of credit to buy equipment and services from Indian entities such as BHEL and RITES. Both the countries also signed a memorandum of understanding for cooperation in the fields of health and medical sciences. This MoU was signed with the aim of promoting health and medical sciences through exchange of scientific materials and information. In the year 2018 both the countries inaugurated the 130 km long Bangladesh-India Friendship pipeline. The pipeline is used to supply 4 lakh metric tonn of diesel to Bangladesh. Bangladesh cabinet also approved the draft of a proposed agreement with India in 2018, that allow India to use the Chittagong and Mongla sea ports to transport goods to and from the northeastern states.