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Indian foreign secretary due today

Rezaul Karim
Ahead of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's visit to India, New Delhi is sending its Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao in advance to Dhaka for preparing the ground for the tour as well as finalise issues to be tabled for discussion between the premiers of Bangladesh and India.
Rao is due to arrive here this morning on a 2-day official visit to hold talks with her Bangladesh counterpart Mohamed Mijarul Quayes.
Besides her official talk, she will meet Sheikh Hasina and Foreign Minister Dipu Moni. She is also expected to meet Leader of the Opposition Khaleda Zia.
This is Nirupama Rao's first visit to Bangladesh after taking over as foreign secretary in August this year.
The prime minister is scheduled to visit India for three days beginning from December 19 when Bangladesh and India are expecting to sign major deals, including mutual transit facilities, official sources said.
Talking to The Daily Star yesterday, a senior official at the Indian High Commission in Dhaka said the foreign secretary’ during her visit would hold official talks with the Bangladesh foreign secretary when entire range of bilateral issues will be discussed.
He said it is anticipated that during her visit. Rao will focus on preparing the grounds for Hasina's next month's visit to India.
Officials at the foreign ministry told The Daily Star that transit, security, bilateral trade, border management and water sharing issues will top the agenda during Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao's 2-day Dhaka visit.
They said Bangladesh wants to discuss all bilateral and long pending issues, particularly removing the huge trade gap with India, while India also has a broad agenda that includes transit and security issues.
India has for long enjoyed water transport facility through Bangladesh territory but road and rail transits have never been in use even though the facilities were provided in an article of the bilateral trade agreement.
The article says that waterways. roads and railway’s can be used for commerce between the two countries for passage of goods between two places of a country through the territory of the other.
Foreign ministry officials said Bangladesh and India are expected to finalise an agree.-. ment on mutual transit facilities during Hasina’s visit to India.
The officials said all these w’ould be settled at the talks between the two countries this time.
A high official said India, in
exchange, will provide Bangladesh with transit facilities to Nepal and Bhutan. "It will be highly beneficial for Bangladesh if we can reach tire two countries through Indian territory."
Officials said both India and Bangladesh sides realised the importance of bilateral and regional connectivity during Dipu Moni's visit to India during September 7-10 when Bangladesh side agreed to provide access to Ashuganj Port to facilitate the transportation of the over dimensional consignments for the Palatana Power Project in Tripura.
However, officials said that it is not yet clear whether Bangladesh would allow India to use Ashuganj as a multimodal transit point under the water protocol.
Sources said India is expected to provide Bangladesh with a number of facilities like at least 100 MW power to Bangladesh on a priority basis, a Line of Credit for railway projects and supply of locomotives, coaches and buses.
They said India had already offered to take up construction of Akhaura-Agartala railway link under Indian assistance, assist Bangladesh in the dredging sector, re-open Sabroom-Ramgarh trade point, open a land route at Demagiri-Thegamukh on the Mizoram border for bilateral trade, border Haats at Bangladesh-Meghalaya border for mutual benefit of the people of two countries.
Besides. Bangladesh and India are most likely to sign important deals like agreement on mutual legal assistance on criminal matters, agreement on transfer of sentenced persons and agreement on combating international terrorism, organised crime and illegal drug trafficking during Sheikh Hasina's visit to India.
Foreign ministry' officials further said both the countries are now very much eager to resolve economic issues with a view to fully activate all institutional mechanisms to promote two-way trade, initiate long pending trade facilitation measures and facilitate movement of businessmen and professionals.
They said Bangladesh will strongly raise the issue of duty free access to Bangladeshi commodities, removal of nontariff and para tariff barriers and improvement of infrastructures on the Indian side.