Many deals between two good friends

We appreciate the warm reception given by Prime Minister Modi to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. She has been treated with the highest honour and respect indicating the long standing friendship between the two countries. Yet despite the signing of six agreements and 16 MOUs with India, we are disappointed that there was nothing more than articulation of optimism on the Teesta issue.

So far from what we have gleaned from news reports it seems that the area where Bangladesh will benefit is the energy sector where India will be supplying at least 600 MW of electricity in addition to the 500 MW it has already committed to. The revival of the Kolkata-Khulna train service is also a positive point as are the agreements of cooperation in the fields of IT, cyber security, science and technology and nuclear energy and nuclear safety. What use Bangladesh will make from the USD 5 billion line of credit from India that includes USD 500 million to procure military hardware is to be seen.

However, the pressing issues Bangladesh faces with India seem to have lost steam in the fanfare of this historic visit. These include Bangladesh's huge trade deficit with India and the latter's recent imposing of an anti-dumping duty on import of jute goods from our country — something our PM pointed out during her visit. The other overarching issue is of course the signing of the Teesta agreement which has not happened, due to Paschim Banga's Chief Minister's position on the issue.

Thus, while we think that the visit of our Prime Minister will add a new dimension to our bilateral relations we would hope that the issue of Teesta sharing will be resolved soon.