Staff Reporter :
The 10th round of the Bangladesh-India Friendship Dialogue will begin today (Friday) at Shimla, the capital of Indian state of Himachal, marking the 50th anniversary of two neighbouring countries relations.
A 38-member Bangladesh delegation led by State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam left Dhaka for the neighboring India on Thursday to join the programme.
Sources said the dialogue aims to review bilateral relations and further boost ties in various fields of cooperation between the two friendly countries.
Bangladesh Foundation for Regional Studies and India Foundation are jointly organising the two-day event styled ‘Bangladesh-India Friendship Dialogue’ with the participation of policymakers, diplomats and experts on India-Bangladesh relations from both the countries.
The two-day dialogue will cover a wide range of issues including trade and investment, connectivity, technology, energy, regional security, extremism, and sustainable development by increasing people-to-people contact.
The participants of the dialogue are expected to place a set of recommendations on the basis of the outcome of the discussions to further boost ties between the two countries.
Earlier, Director of India Foundation Alok Bansal said that a 38-member Bangladesh delegation comprising policymakers, experts, and diplomats are expected to join the dialogue.
The guests from the Bangladesh side will be starting arriving in India from Thursday to join the event, he added. Sources, however, said the Bangladesh delegation will be included Awami League Presidium Member Jahangir Kabir Nanak, Mirza Azam MP, Asim Kumar Ukil, MP, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam, former diplomats Tareq Karim and Shamsher Mobin Chowdhury, Bangladesh High Commissioner to India Muhammad Imran and A S M Shamsul Arefin, among others. Kabir Nanak, Mirza Azam MP, Asim Kumar Ukil, MP, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam, former diplomats Tareq Karim and Shamsher Mobin Chowdhury, Bangladesh High Commissioner to India Muhammad Imran and A S M Shamsul Arefin, among others.
Besides, the Indian side will be included, among others, by Chief Minister of India’s Himachal Pradesh Joi Ram Thakur, BJP’s former National General Secretary Ram Madhav, State Minister for Ministry of External Affairs Dr. Rajkumar Ranjan Singh, and India Foundation Director Alok Bansal.
The 9th round of India Bangladesh Friendship dialogue was held in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh in November 2019.
