NEW DELHI, Sept 8, 2023 (BSS) - Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi today during a bilateral meeting expressed their satisfaction over the existing deep relationship between the countries and simultaneously agreed to take effective steps to strengthen the relationship further.

"Both the prime ministers expressed satisfaction over the existing deep relationship between Bangladesh and India and agreed to take effective steps to strengthen further this relationship," Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen told reporters while briefing about the outcome of the bilateral meeting of the two premiers.

Besides, he said that Modi also laid emphasis on resolving the outstanding issues between the two countries through amicable discussion.

"Indian prime minister laid emphasis on resolving the outstanding issues between the two countries through talks at the official level," he added.

Momen said, "The India prime minister expressed his deep gratitude to the Bangladesh prime minister for her contribution to ensuring the existing peaceful situation in the North Eastern region of his country".

The bilateral meeting took place at the official residence of the Indian Prime Minister in New Delhi.

Earlier, the Bangladesh premier arrived here in the afternoon to join the G20 Summit at the invitation of Narendra Modi.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina noted that after her successful state visit to New Delhi, India on 04-08 September last year, a lot of visible progress has been achieved in various areas of bilateral interest.
 
In this connection, the foreign minister said that "both the prime ministers expressed their satisfaction for this".

In the meeting, Sheikh Hasina talked to the Modi about the success achieved by Bangladesh in various socio-economic fields.

"The Indian premier appreciated the strong leadership of the prime minister for the tremendous progress of Bangladesh," Momen added.

He said, "Sheikh Hasina requested the Government of India to ensure uninterrupted supply of our essential commodities from India as India is the second largest trading partner of Bangladesh."

"Both the premiers agreed to accelerate our ongoing efforts and activities to enhance our bilateral and regional connectivity with India including rail and road connectivity," he added.

Sheikh Hasina also sought the cooperation of Narendra Modi for the speedy repatriation of the Rohingya people.

Momen said, "We believe that this fruitful and open discussion between the two prime ministers in a very cordial atmosphere will speed up the settle down of the outstanding issues between the two sides and benefit the people of both the countries."

He described the bilateral meeting as fruitful, saying that it was held in a very cordial atmosphere.

"Both the prime ministers discussed important issues of bilateral interest and during this time, both the heads of government also held tete-a-tete," he added.

Sheikh Hasina also recalled India's contribution to Bangladesh's Liberation War in 1971.

She also extended her gratitude to Narendra Modi for inviting her to the "G20 Leaders" Summit.

The Bangladesh premier expressed her gratitude to the prime minister of India for taking the necessary initiatives to protect the interests of the underdeveloped parts of the world.

Indian prime minister congratulated Bangladesh for actively participating in G20 meetings.

After the bilateral meeting, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a post on X, formerly twitter, said that "had productive deliberations with PM Sheikh Hasina. The progress in India-Bangladesh relations in the last 9 years has been very gladdening. Our talks covered areas like connectivity, commercial linkage and more."

The Indian Prime Minister's Office also posted on X that "PM @narendramodi had productive talks with PM Sheikh Hasina on diversifying the India-Bangladesh bilateral cooperation. They agreed to strengthen ties in host of sectors including connectivity, culture as well as people-to-people ties."

In the G20 Summit, Sheikh Hasina has schedule to attend different sessions and deliver two speeches under the main theme of the summit "One Earth, One Family, One Future".

During "One Earth" and "One Family" sessions, the Bangladesh premier will point out how to address the challenges like climate change, economic recovery after Covid pandemic, war in Europe resulting the severe disruption of global supply of the essential commodities such as fuel, food and fertiliser.

Besides, the prime minister would also highlight the experiences of Bangladesh's incredible success in various socio-economic fields during the tenure of the current government to the participating world leaders.

India's G20 presidency began in December 2022 and during this presidency term, India invited a total nine countries including Bangladesh to attend the G20 summit.

The countries are - Bangladesh, Egypt, Mauritius, Netherlands, Nigeria, Oman, Singapore, Spain and United Arab Emirates.

In the summit, a G20 Leaders' Declaration will be adopted at the conclusion of the G20 Summit, stating Leaders' commitment towards the priorities discussed and agreed upon during the respective ministerial and working group meetings.

The Group of Twenty (G20) is the premier forum for international economic cooperation. It plays an important role in shaping and strengthening global architecture and governance on all major international economic issues.

The G20 was founded in 1999 after the Asian financial crisis as a forum for the Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors to discuss global economic and financial issues.

The G20 comprises 19 countries (Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, United Kingdom and United States) and the European Union.

The G20 members represent around 85 percent of the global GDP, over 75 percent of the global trade and about two-thirds of the world population.

State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam, Foreign Secretary (Senior Secretary) Masud Bin Momen and Prime Minister Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim, among others, were present at the media briefing.