Sheikh Hasina to visit India in December

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will be in New Delhi Dec 19 for bilateral talks that may include India receiving transit facilities to reach its northeastern region.

Foreign Minister Dipu Moni indicated the date and the direction of the talks Friday, a day before Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao is to arrive here to prepare for the visit that would be the first by Hasina since she returned to power in January.

A mutual transit pact, which would be high on the agenda, would also permit Bangladesh access to Bhutan and possibly Nepal, media reports have said.

"She will operationalise deals with India to get transit facilities to Bhutan and Nepal," Moni was quoted as saying.

Hasina was in Bhutan last week when she broached the topic of land transit to the Himalayan kingdom via Indian territory.

Transit facility is a long-pending request from India that finds a bottleneck in dealing with development of seven states of the northeastern region.

Lack of development and isolation has fanned militancy in some of them.

In signing the transit facilities pact, Hasina would be shedding Dhaka's reservations, articulated by the former Khaleda Zia government that this would jeopardise Bangladesh's security.

There is also a strong view in Dhaka that it should not concede transit without "a quid pro quo", meaning gains beyond the fees it would receive for providing access to its territory.

The foreign minister said Dhaka and Delhi would also "operationalise" the agreement on allowing India to use Ashuganj as a transit point under an existing Water Protocol between the two countries.

Foreign secretary Mohamed Mijarul Quayes defined the word "operationalise" to bdnews24.com Thursday at his office.

"Operationalisation means removing the policy barriers and reaffirming commitments," said Quayes.

He said both Bangladesh and India needed some necessary preparations to make existing transit agreements effective.

"For instance, we cannot make Ashuganj a port of call overnight. The roads must be widened for that purpose," said Quayes.

During Moni's visit to India Sep 7, New Delhi agreed to give Bangladesh transit facilities to reach Bhutan and Nepal through Indian territory.

In return, Bangladesh agreed to allow Delhi to use Ashuganj for carrying heavy machinery for setting up a power plant in India's northeast.

Moni was not sure whether the two governments would be able to reach a crucial agreement on Teesta water sharing during the three-day visit, bdnews24.com site said Friday.

Last updated on Nov 13^th, 2009 at 12:47 pm IST--IANS