India acquires access to Bangladesh's Chittagong Port, will help to enhance connectivity

In a major development in India-Bangladesh ties, India has now gained access to the crucial Chittagong Port after it was offered by Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to the country's northeastern states for enhancing connectivity between the neighboring countries. 

This came during the meeting between External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and the Bangladeshi Prime Minister that took place in Dhaka on Thursday. EAM Jaishankar called upon Sheikh Hasina who then offered her country's main seaport, the Chittagong Port to Indian states like Assam and Tripura. During this while, she emphasised that both the countries need to increase connectivity further which would be possible with access to the port, informed her press secretary Ihsanul Karim. 

She further also said that the enhanced connectivity was needed for mutual benefit and it would particularly benefit India’s northeastern region in using Bangladesh’s southeastern Chittagong port. 

“If the connectivity is increased, the Indian northeastern states like Assam and Tripura- can have access to the seaport in Chattogram,” Hasina added. 

Notably, the Chittagong Port is the main seaport of Bangladesh located in the port city of Chittagong on the banks of the Karnaphuli River. The port handles 80% of Bangladesh's export-import trade and has been used by India, Nepal, and Bhutan for trans-shipment.

'India-Bangladesh relations moving strength to strength': EAM Jaishankar

Apart from these issues, the two also discussed several key issues including the initiative taken for resuming cross-border routes between India and Bangladesh which were earlier stopped during the 1965 India-Pakistan war. In addition to that, a number of bilateral and international issues were also a part of the discussion in the meeting. 

Following this, Jaishankar also held discussions with his Bangladeshi counterpart AK Abdul Momen and later briefed the media.  

Notably, the External Affairs Minister arrived in Dhaka on Thursday for a brief visit and further handed over an invitation to the Bangladesh PM on the behalf of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit New Delhi. Also taking to Twitter, he shared a picture of his meeting and said that India-Bangladesh bilateral relations are moving from strength to strength. 

Earlier in the day, he was received at the Bangladesh Air Force Base Bangabandhu by Foreign Minister Momen, following which, Jaishankar would leave Dhaka for Bhutan on Friday morning.

Image: Twitter/@SJaishankar