EAM Jaishankar, Bangladesh envoy Hamidullah discuss advancing bilateral ties

External Affairs Minister EAM S Jaishankar met Riaz Hamidullah the High Commissioner of Bangladesh to India in New Delhi on Friday with discussions focusing on advancing bilateral tiesIn a post on X EAM Jaishankar stated Met with High Commissioner Riaz Hamidullah of Bangladesh Our conversation was focused on advancing our bilateral tiesIndia on Thursday said that it continues to assist Bangladesh and other neighbouring countries on the issue of energy supply requirements while balancing domestic needs refining capacity and diesel availability reported IANSMEA confirms supply of diesel to Bangladesh and other neighbouring countriesAccording to IANS while addressing a weekly media briefing on Thursday Ministry of External Affairs MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal reiterated that India has received energy requests from Bangladesh Sri Lanka Maldives and other neighbouring countriesHe mentioned that India has been supplying diesel to Bangladesh since 2007 through various modes of transportation and continues to assist the South Asian nation along with other neighbouring countriesldquoAbout energy we have received requests from several of our neighbouring countries and I had spoken about this earlier as well We have received requests from Bangladesh Sri Lanka Maldives and some other neighbouring countries As I had indicated earlier India has been supplying diesel to Bangladesh since 2007 through various modes of transportation We are continuing to assist Bangladesh and our other neighbours even currently This is being done while factoring in our own requirements refining capacity and diesel availability said Jaiswal reported IANSWith the energy shipping routes having been impacted due to the ongoing West Asia conflict he mentioned that the supply of LPG remains a matter of concernTherefore we are prioritising domestic consumption and domestic consumers first Their needs will be taken care of and then we will decide how to manage LPG supply to commercial establishments However this remains a matter of concern due to the shortage of supplyrdquoIndia High Commissioner meets BNP ministers in Dhaka to boost bilateral tiesAs per IANS earlier this month Indias High Commissioner to Bangladesh Pranay Verma held a series of meetings with ministers of the newlyformed Tarique Rahman led Bangladesh Nationalist Party BNP government discussing ways to enhance bilateral cooperation between both countriesAccording to the Indian High Commission in Dhaka Verma called on Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir Bangladeshrsquos Minister of Local Government Rural Development and Cooperatives to explore various areas of common interest including strengthening cooperation in local governance structures and rural developmentBoth sides agreed to strengthen bilateral engagement in areas such as rural economy agricultural cooperatives financial empowerment at grassroots etcldquoHigh Commissioner underlined that IndiaBangladesh relations are founded on peopletopeople ties and that India remains ready to engage with Bangladesh in a positive constructive and forwardlooking manner to promote peoplecentric cooperation in all domains based on mutual interest and mutual benefitrdquo the Indian High Commission posted on X reported IANSVerma also met Hafiz Uddin Ahmad Bangladeshrsquos Minister of Liberation War Affairs reaffirming the strong historical bonds between the two countries rooted in the shared sacrifices during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation WarldquoThey underlined the importance of working together on the basis of mutual respect and mutual trust to further strengthen peopletopeople ties between the two countriesrdquo said the Indian High Commission reported IANSInputs from IANS