Shivshankar meets Hasina, Khaleda, discusses bilateral issues

FE Team | Published: June 28, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

Indian Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon held separate meetings with Awami League (AL) President Sheikh Hasina and BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia in the city Wednesday and exchanged views on bilateral issues, report agencies.
About meeting with AL chief, Hasina's aide Hassan Mahmud told reporters that they had exclusive talks for sometime, too.
Asked whether current political development came up for discussion, Hassan said, "It came, but not that way".
Quoting Sheikh Hasina, he said India is a friend of Bangladesh. Issues like the Ganges water sharing accord, CHT peace accord and demarcation of land boundary were discussed.
Hassan said Sheikh Hasina regretted that the party's presidium members were not allowed to attend the meeting. Begum Matia Chowdhury and Mukul Bose waited for long at the police barricade but were not allowed to get into Sudha Sadan.
"This has undermined, not only Awami League but also the nation as a whole," Hasina was quoted as having said.
The AL president also expressed her regret that the media was not allowed to cover the event. After the meeting the Indian Foreign Secretary did not also talk to the press.
About meeting with Khaleda Zia, a party statement stated that Menon conveyed greetings from Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi to Khaleda, and appraised her of the meeting with his Bangladesh counterpart held Tuesday.
The bilateral issues that came up for secretary-level discussion included security, removal of tariff barriers, demarcating borderlands and sharing water resources, he said.
Shivshankar also mentioned the memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the two countries on quality control of commodities.
The BNP chief said India is the country's closest neighbour and ally and Bangladesh has always attached the highest priority to friendly ties between the two neighbours.
Khaleda expressed the hope that the two countries would continue to have foreign secretary-level meetings in future as well with a view to resolving bilateral issues and strengthening friendly relationship further.