Bangladesh to prioritise intel-sharing with India to combat transnational crimes: Home minister

More importance will be given to the exchange of intelligence information between Bangladesh and India to combat various types of transnational crimes, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said today (16 January).

"We discussed sharing intelligence on transnational crimes, border crimes and organised crimes so that these can be reduced as much as possible. Bangladesh always gets support from India," he told reporters after a meeting with Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Pranay Verma at the Secretariat this afternoon.

Asked whether there was any discussion about visa complications, the home minister said India had already informed that they are short of staff officers, which was resulting in delayed appointments. 

"Still, the high commissioner said India has given visas to more than 16 lakh Bangladeshis in 2023. A maximum of 7,000 visas were issued in one day. They are thinking of making it even easier in the future," he said.

The minister also said discussions were held on how to improve the relations between India's Border Security Force (BSF) and Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB). 

"We asked for more cybersecurity and cyber forensics training for the BGB. The high commissioner said India will cooperate," he added.

Existing friendly relations to continue: Indian envoy

Meanwhile, Pranay Verma said existing friendly relations between Bangladesh and India will continue further and they will work closely with the newly formed government.

"In this regard, security issues of the two countries will get priority, so the two countries will work together in future on economic and commercial issues," he told reporters after the meeting with the home minister. 

The high commissioner congratulated the minister and mentioned that the relationship between the two countries is excellent.