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Context

• India-Bangladesh to resume passenger train service, Bandhan Express from Kolkata to Khulna after a gap of two years. Maitree Express is also scheduled to resume services between Kolkata and Dhaka.
• Mitali Express, the new train service to be flagged off by the Railway Ministry of India and Bangladesh from Rail Bhawan in New Delhi on June 1 virtually. The train will operate between New Jalpaiguri in West Bengal and Dhaka in Bangladesh.

India-Bangladesh Relations

• India and Bangladesh share bonds of history, language, culture, and a multitude of other commonalities. The excellent bilateral ties reflect an all-encompassing partnership based on sovereignty, equality, trust, and understanding that goes far beyond a strategic partnership.
• Security and Border Management:
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  • 51st Director-General Level Talks (DGLT) between Border Security Force (BSF) and the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) were held in Guwahati.
  • In addition, border coordination conferences between Regional Commanders of BGB and the Frontier Inspectors General of BSF were also held regularly to discuss the management and security of 4096.7 Km of the India-Bangladesh land border.
• Defense Cooperation:
  • High-level exchanges in the year 2020 include the second edition of the India-Bangladesh CORPAT ‘Bongosagar’ exercise, the Regional Commanders meeting of Coast Guards, and the third Annual Defense Dialogue.
  • The Indian Army has gifted trained horses and dogs to the Bangladesh Army in November 2020. The Indian Air Chief visited Bangladesh on an official visit in February 2021.
• Connectivity:
  • Both the governments are undertaking various measures to restore the pre-1965 rail links and other connectivity links that existed between India and Bangladesh.
  • The two Prime Ministers jointly inaugurated the newly restored railway link between Chilahati (Bangladesh) and Haldibari (India) on 17 December 2020.
  • To enhance people to people contact, the frequency of two passenger trains, i.e., Maitree Express and Bandhan Express was increased from 4 days a week to 5 days a week and from one day a week to two days a week respectively from February 2020.
  • Both countries also started using side-door containers and parcel trains to maintain uninterrupted supply chains during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
  • The Government of India handed over 10 broad gauge diesel locomotives as part of grant assistance to Bangladesh Railways in a virtual event joined by External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar and Railways Minister Piyush Goyal and their Bangladeshi counterparts Dr A K Abdul Momen and Md Nurul Islam Sujon on 27 July 2020.
  • During the visit of PM Sheikh Hasina to New Delhi in October 2019, both the governments decided to commence Dhaka-Siliguri-Gangtok-Dhaka and Dhaka-Siliguri-Darjeeling-Dhaka bus service to enhance people to people contacts between both the countries and the trail run of Dhaka-Siliguri-Gangtok-Dhaka was also held in December 2019.
  • Feni Bridge (Maitree Setu) connecting LCS Sub room (Tripura) and LCS Ramgarh (Bangladesh) has been jointly inaugurated on a virtual platform by both the Prime Ministers on 09 March 2021.
• Economic and Commercial:
  • Bangladesh is India’s biggest trade partner in South Asia and India is the second biggest trade partner of Bangladesh. Bilateral trade between India and Bangladesh has grown steadily over the last decade and the exports of Bangladesh have tripled over the last decade to cross $1 bn in 2018-19.
  • In FY 2019-20, India’s exports to Bangladesh were $8.2 bn and imports were $1.26 bn.
  • Meetings of various institutional mechanisms to promote bilateral trade including Secretary-level meetings of Commerce and shipping ministries, LCS/ICP infrastructure and establishment of Indian Economic Zone etc.
  • Toto promotes cooperation on bilateral trade, an India-Bangladesh CEO’s Forum was launched in December 2020 to provide policy level inputs in various areas of trade and investment and also to facilitate exchanges among the business communities of both the countries.
  • The first meeting of the India-Bangladesh Textile Industry Forum was held in February 2020 to enhance linkages and collaboration in the textile sector.
• Development Partnership:
  • Bangladesh is the biggest development partner of India today.
  • India has extended 3 Lines of Credits (LOC) to Bangladesh in the last 8 years amounting to US$ 8 billion for the development of infrastructure in various sectors including roads, railways, shipping and ports.
  • In addition to LOCs, the Government of India has also been providing grant assistance to Bangladesh for various infrastructure projects including the construction of the Akhaura-Agartala rail link, the dredging of inland waterways in Bangladesh and the construction of the India-Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline.
  • High Impact Community Development Projects (HICDPs) constitute an active pillar of India’s development assistance.
  • The Government of India has funded 68 HICDPs including the construction of student hostels, academic buildings, skill development and training institutes, cultural centres, orphanages etc. in Bangladesh and another 16 HICDPs are being implemented.
• Capacity Building and Human Resource Development:
  • Human resource development is a key component of India’s development cooperation efforts in Bangladesh through its several ongoing training programs and scholarships.
  • The Government of India has been training 1800 Bangladesh Civil Service officials from 2019 at National Centre for Good Governance (NCGG), Mussoorie.
• Cultural Cooperation:
  • The year 2021 marked the historic India-Bangladesh relations as both countries commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the Liberation War and the establishment of diplomatic relations between India and Bangladesh.
  • The Indira Gandhi Cultural Centre (IGCC) in Dhaka plays an important role in the celebration of common cultural links between the two countries. Its training programs including Yoga, Kathak, Manipuri dance, Hindi language, Hindustani classical music and the cultural programs of renowned artists of India and Bangladesh contribute to the promotion of people-to-people contacts.

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