Indo-Bangla joint body meets today
Foreign Minister Dipu Moni went to New Delhi yesterday to take part in the first Bangladesh-India Joint Commission meeting and discuss bilateral issues including the Teesta water-sharing deal with India.
Dipu Moni would co-chair the meeting with Indian External Affairs Minister SM Krishna at 12:30pm today.
Sources said issues, including the Teesta water sharing deal, implementation of land boundary agreement and an extradition treaty would be high on the agenda.
Foreign ministry sources said the delegation level Joint Commission meeting would be followed by a joint media interaction where the two ministers would be present.
According to her programme schedule, Dipu Moni would meet Indian Water Resources Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal tomorrow at 2:30pm. She would also meet with Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram at 4:15pm and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at his official residence at 5:30pm tomorrow.
The Joint Commission was formed under the Framework Agreement on Cooperation for Development signed during Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Dhaka on September 6-7, 2011.
The Joint Commission was envisaged as an annual event at foreign/external affairs minister level to jointly coordinate and oversee implementation of initiatives as well as to explore newer avenues for cooperation.
Sources said Dhaka and New Delhi would discuss and review implementation of agreements, initiatives and decisions agreed upon during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's visit to New Delhi in January, 2010, and Manmohan Singh's Dhaka visit last year.
India has been pushing for early signing of an extradition treaty but Dhaka is working on a draft and has not yet finalised any decision whether to sign.
Both sides would talk about strengthening cooperation on security, combating insurgents, countering terrorism and other border related issues.
Dipu Moni would be the guest of honour at the closing ceremony of the year-long joint celebrations of the 150th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore at Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi later today.
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