Projects under Line of Credit agreements between Bangladesh-India to continue: Salehuddin

The Indian Line of Credit projects will continue because they are important for the country, Dr Salehuddin Ahmed, finance adviser to the interim government said this morning (10 September). 

"The projects they [India] have with us are big ones, and we will continue those. We will take on another big project for our benefit," he told reporters after Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Pranay Verma met him at the Secretariat today.

"We've assured him [Indian High Commissioner] that Bangladesh is a very good place for investment and economic cooperation. They have taken note and they will continue the cooperation," he added. 

Dr Salehuddin said they have also thanked the Indian government for their continued cooperation, adding," We are looking forward to a future with enhanced cooperation."

Replying to another question, he said the issues regarding the implementation and disbursement of the three Indian Line of Credit projects were discussed in the meeting.

Mentioning that India is right next door and a big neighbour of Bangladesh, Dr Salehuddin, also in charge of the Ministry of Science and Technology, said both India and Bangladesh have many areas of economic cooperation and trade. 

At the same time, they discussed how to enhance the existing economic cooperation.

Regarding the Indian Line of Credit projects to Bangladesh, the adviser said the existing India-funded projects are very important for Bangladesh and were undertaken considering the country's own needs.

"There were some issues relating to disbursement, and we're sorting those out," he said, adding that there would be some more future projects with Indian funding.

"We'll not stop on whatever we have, and we'll talk about those projects ... funding of the projects and the implementation part," he added.

Regarding the bilateral trade volume, the finance adviser said there is a bilateral trade deficit that tilts in favour of India. But the issue will be resolved.

He informed that the Indian High Commissioner has assured him that they would encourage more quality export of Bangladeshi products to India and that should be a win-win situation for both the countries.

The Indian side also offered support to Bangladesh in the fields of science and technology, scientific research and laboratory.

Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Pranay Verma also said India has not stopped any of its Line of Credit projects to Bangladesh since those are big projects.

"Those projects are going on, and they are huge projects located at different sites. The contractors will be coming back to start the projects," he added.

Replying to a question on the Indian government's engagement with Bangladesh's interim government, Pranay said, "We are very closely engaging with the government, and my meeting with the adviser is proof of that."

He said the issue of project implementation would be resolved through mutual cooperation, and the Indian side's approach is positive in this regard.

The Indian envoy said that he briefed the adviser about the progress made on some India-funded projects, adding that the approach was to move forward.

He said that the Indian side is very happy to take forward its Line of Credit projects under its development cooperation as Bangladesh had already identified those as beneficial for them.

Bangladesh and India signed the first Line of Credit agreement involving $862 million in August 2010.

The second Line of Credit agreement involving $2 billion was signed in March 2016. 

The third agreement involving $4.5 billion under the system was signed in March 2017.