Dhaka stresses liberalised visa regime in India

Bangladesh yesterday emphasised the need for India to have a liberalised visa regime as visiting Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque held a meeting with his Indian counterpart Sujatha Singh discussing key bilateral issues including the long-festering Teesta water-sharing agreement.
All bilateral issues including trade and investment opportunities, border management, security, water issues and improved connectivity in the regional context were discussed, according to official sources.
Here on a four-day official visit, Haque had flagged Dhaka's concern over the drastic fall of the water flow in Teesta in Bangladesh during his meeting with Indian Water Resources Secretary Alok Rawat yesterday. India has promised to respond later with detailed data on the issue.

Teesta remains a sore point in Bangladesh-India ties as Dhaka and New Delhi failed to ink a deal on sharing its water in September 2011 during Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Dhaka mainly due to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's strong opposition.
“There was an emphasis on facilitating easier people-to-people contacts,” the sources said.
Issues of interest in international forums also came up for discussion between Shahidul and Sujatha which included exchange of views on the post-2015 development agenda, climate change and other matters which figured in the UN, the sources said.