Mukherjee's first Dhaka visit as president

President Pranab Mukherjee is scheduled to arrive in Dhaka in early March on a two-day visit to Bangladesh at the invitation of the president and the prime minister of Bangladesh. He is the first Bengali to become the president of India since its independence in 1947.
It will be his first visit to Bangladesh as president, which is a testimony to the existing excellent cooperative partnership between the two neighbours.
President Mukherjee is highly respected in Bangladesh, not only as president but also as a person. He is known to be modest, affable and polite and could easily relate to any person. President Mukherjee has close family connections with Bangladesh through his wife Madam Shuvra, who hails from Sadar upazilla of Narail district.
President Mukherjee is no stranger to Bangladesh. During the 1971 War of Liberation, he was one of the political leaders who supported and assisted the provisional government of Bangladesh.
He will receive "Bangladesh Swadhinata Sammanona" (Bangladesh Freedom Honour) a state honour for his outstanding contribution to the Liberation War.
It is noted that Bangladesh AL-led government started honouring foreign friends for their contribution to the country's liberation war in 2011, when the government conferred Bangladesh Swadhinata Sammanona upon former prime minister of India late Indira Gandhi. Her daughter-in-law and Congress President Sonia Gandhi received the honour on her behalf on July 25, 2011.
The presidency is mainly a ceremonial role, but Mukherjee used his acceptance speech to talk about the basic needs of the poor. He reportedly said: "There is no humiliation more abusive than hunger. Trickle-down theories do not address the legitimate aspirations of the poor. We must lift those at the bottom."
Currently, Bangladesh and India share a cooperative partnership which is considered as crucial to the prosperity of both countries. Relations between India and Bangladesh have been on the upswing ever since Sheikh Hasina took power in 2009. Prime Minister Hasina visited New Delhi in January 2010 and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was in Dhaka in September 2011.
All visiting Bangladesh ministers, including Agriculture Minister Begum Matia Chowdhury, who visited India in July 2012, have met President Mukherjee. A delegation of Bangladesh lawmakers who visited India in November as part of Track 2 diplomacy also met the president. Opposition Leader Begum Khaleda Zia called on him at the Presidential Palace in October 2012.
In recent times, brisk activities have commenced in various sectors through the visits of Indian ministers and top officials. Both sides have been working together to promote pragmatic cooperation in terms of closer economic cooperation and cultural exchanges, and made breakthroughs in some other sectors including power.
It is reported that India will be able to release 92% of the $800 million line of credit to Bangladesh for infrastructural development, for which interest was cut down to 1% last year as a gesture of goodwill. Out of the 13 projects to be implemented through the loan, it is reported that nine agreements have been signed and tender documents are being processed for the remaining four.
As a veteran Congress politician he held a string of influential portfolios in the government, including commerce, finance, defence and external affairs, over two decades of national reforms. He visited Bangladesh several times in various capacities and had established close rapport with top Awami League leaders.
His last visit as finance minister was on May 5-6 of last year to attend the concluding session of Rabindranath Tagore's 150th birth anniversary celebration. During the visit, he announced that India would write off $200 million dollars of the one billion loaned to Bangladesh for various projects.
In pursuance to the declaration, India's External Affairs Minister, Salman Khurshid, while visiting Bangladesh this month, handed over a cheque of $50 million on February 17 to the Prime Minister Hasina.
There is speculation that the Bangladesh government may take the opportunity of the visit to discuss two most important outstanding issues with the president. The first one is the Teesta water-sharing agreement which has been stalled since September 2011 because of opposition from the West Bengal state.
The second one is the Land Border Agreement with exchange of enclaves and adverse possession of territories, which was held up because of reservation of opposition parties in India.
On February 21, President Mukherjee, while addressing the Parliament, advocated the passage of a constitutional amendment bill in Parliament to make the Land Boundary Agreement with Bangladesh effective.
It is reported that the bill has been introduced in the Lower House (Lok Sabha). Hopefully, the Congress-led government will be able to receive support from its opposition parties to obtain two-third majority in the both Houses (Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha) of Parliament for amendment of the constitution.
It is believed that the resolution of the pending two most important issues will lead not only to the restoration of credibility of India's promises but will also facilitate the proposed visit of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to India in September.
India needs Bangladesh as much as Bangladesh needs India in the current regional and global environment. Given the desire to live together in cooperation, the two countries should proceed with productive relations through unremitting efforts.

The writer is a former Bangladesh Ambassador to the UN, Geneva.