Improving border infra to further fortify ties with B'desh: Envoy

AGARTALA: India is developing several projects and improving the border infrastructures to further strengthen its ties with Bangladesh, Indias new High Commissioner to Bangladesh Vikram Doraiswami said here before leaving for Dhaka by road on Monday.

"We are building infrastructure to connect India and Bangladesh and to come more close. We have developed this relationship with Bangladesh as it is the most important neighbour of India," he told the media.

"This close relationship has great value for India and Bangladesh. If our connectivity, travel, trade and people to people ties develop, it would be beneficial for both the neighbours," he added.

Doraiswami, who succeeds Riva Ganguly Das as the Indian envoy in Bangladesh, said the northeast region is central to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of stronger, resilient and modern India.

On his three-day visit to Tripura, Doraiswami met Governor Ramesh Bais and Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb and discussed various issues involving Bangladesh.

He also visited the under construction 12.23 km India-Bangladesh railway project and inspected several upcoming border projects, including a Special Economic Zone (SEZ), Integrated Check Posts (ICP), an under construction bridge over river Feni in Sabroom in southern Tripura, border trade facilities in Belonia and the India-Bangladesh waterway project in Sonamura in western Tripura.

"In Tripura, met Governor, Chief Minister, Chief Secretary, Tripura-Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce. Saw Nischintipur site of Akhaura-Agartala rail link, Srimantpur ICP and Sonamura, Belonia border and ICP, Feni River Maitri bridge and SEZ sites. Act-East from Northeast," the diplomat tweeted late on Sunday night.

Doraiswami, who joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1992, left for Dhaka on Monday to take charge as the new Indian High Commissioner.

He until recently served as Additional Secretary in-charge of International Organisations and Summits in the Ministry of External Affairs.

Former Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Riva Ganguly Das left Dhaka for Delhi on Friday after serving one-and-a-half years as the Indian envoy in Dhaka. She will join as Secretary (East) in the Ministry of External Affairs.

To boost trades with Bangladesh, the Indian government has already set up two ICPs in Tripura, in Agartala and Sonamura, two Border Haats (markets) in western and southern Tripura and proposed to set up several such markets along the borders with other north-eastern States. (IANS)

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