Bangladesh-India JCC meeting begins

The 3rd the foreign ministers’ level Joint Consultative Commission (JCC) meeting between India and Bangladesh started on Saturday morning at Hyderabad House in New Delhi. Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Ali is heading the Bangladesh delegation in the meeting. Delhi on his first official visit to attend the third foreign ministers’ level Joint Consultative Commission (JCC) meeting. Ali is in the Indian capital on his first official visit to the neighbouring country after taking over the charge of the foreign ministry following the Jan 5 elections. Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj is leading her country’s delegations in the day-long JCC meeting that will continue till late in the afternoon. Earlier, Ali met with Indian President Pranab Mukherjee at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. During the meeting on Friday afternoon, Pranab stressed on ‘speedy implementation’ of decisions taken jointly by Dhaka and New Delhi. According to the President’s Secretariat, Pranab said the JCC was a ‘good mechanism’ between the countries. Foreign Minister Mahmood Ali has taken 8 secretaries, including the foreign secretary, with him to show ‘Bangladesh’s commitment to improve relations’. President Pranab said ‘....there is need for speedy implementation of decisions. There is now need to work on increasing connectivity,’ according to private TV channels.