Unique ties of close friendship

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday extended the "warmest wishes" to her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi and the people of India on the occasion of the country's Republic Day.

In a letter to Modi, the PM wrote, "We look forward to working with India in the next fifty years and beyond, towards realising the shared vision of building a peaceful and prosperous region.

"The unique ties of close friendship, cooperation and trust between our two countries have flourished and grown from strength to strength in recent years … many new frontiers of cooperation alongside all traditional areas have been identified, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic," Hasina wrote in the letter.

She said the year 2021 "was a historic one for the Bangladesh-India relationship, marked by celebrations of epochal events and engagements at the highest levels".

Hasina said she "thankfully" recalled Modi's visit to Dhaka in March last year to join celebrations of the golden jubilee of Bangladesh's independence, the birth centenary of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and 50 years of establishment of diplomatic ties between Bangladesh and India.

"Your gracious presence on these occasions had added extra enthusiasm to the celebrations and allowed us to further consolidate our excellent bilateral relations, which so happily exist between our two countries," she wrote.

The Bangladeshi PM said she recalled with gratitude the support rendered by the government and the people of India during Bangladesh's Liberation War in 1971 and said this set the foundation of "our unique relationship".

The joint celebration of "Moitri Dibosh" held across the globe on December 6, the day when India recognised Bangladesh as a sovereign and independent country in 1971, "projected this special relationship", wrote Hasina.