Delhi to assist in hydropower import from Nepal, Bhutan thru India

India will assist Bangladesh in importing hydropower from Nepal and Bhutan through the Indian territory. However, the country has asked Bangladesh to increase the capacity and network of transmission lines.

Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen said these issues came up in the Foreign Office Consultation (FOC) meeting of the two countries in Dhaka yesterday on Wednesday.

"Indian Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra has assured that they will assist in bringing electricity from Nepal and Bhutan to Bangladesh through India. The water minister of Nepal is also going to Delhi to discuss the project," said Foreign Secretary Momen at a press briefing at the Foreign Service Academy.

"They pointed out a practical problem that we have to increase the capacity and network of the transmission lines, which we will need to distribute the imported electricity," he added.

The foreign secretary told reporters that the ministry concerned will be asked to ensure the transmission line construction on both sides can go on simultaneously.

The Bangladesh side proposed that both countries can work together to strengthen the transmission capacity and network.

He also suggested a project for this can be included in the Indian line of credit.

The FOC meeting also discussed the progress of the energy pipeline between India and Bangladesh, through which Bangladesh will import diesel from India, and India will transmit fuel from one northern province to another via Bangladesh.

During the meeting, Bangladesh urged India to resolve pending issues like the signing of the water-sharing deal on the Teesta river, removing the non-tariff barriers for Bangladeshi products, and stopping border killing.

About the Teesta deal, the Indian side said that the solution to this issue lies with the state of West Bengal, but from the centre they will try their best to make it happen.

About the border killing, the Indian side said that they also don't want the death of a single Bangladeshi on the border and they're trying to bring down the border killing 20 level

In this regard, they also stressed the need for more collaboration between the border security forces of the two countries so that the criminal activities along the border can be prevented.

In the meeting, the countries agreed to expedite the process for signing the comprehensive economic partnership agreement.

The meeting also discussed issues related to the Rohingya crisis and India has assured Bangladesh to provide all kinds of cooperation to expedite the repatriation process, the Bangladesh, foreign secretary said.

Responding to another question, foreign secretary also said that during the discussion any issue related to the next general election in Bangladesh was not raised by the Indian side.