BSS-55 Momen, Jaishankar expect to join JCC talks by end September

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BANGLADESH-INDIA-JCC-LEAD

Momen, Jaishankar expect to join JCC talks by end September

By Aminul Islam Mirja

NEW DELHI/DHAKA, Sept 07, 2020 (BSS) – Bangladesh foreign minister Dr. AK Abdul Momen is expected to meet his Indian counterpart Dr. S Jaishankar in the bilateral Joint Consultative Commission (JCC) meeting later this month, officials in Dhaka and New Delhi said today.

“Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen today talked to Indian Foreign Minister Dr S Jaishankar over phone when they in principle agreed on holding the ministerial level 6th Joint Consultative Commission – JCC) meeting in virtual platform,” Bangladesh’s foreign office said in a statement.

It added: “The meeting is expected to be held by the end this month.

The statement came as both the foreign ministers confirmed in their respective countries about their telephonic conversations this afternoon while Momen told BSS in Dhaka that he awaited the meeting with his counterpart “at the soonest in this month”.

Jaishankar, on the other hand, issued a tweet in New Delhi describing the telephonic talks as a “warm conversation” when they “agreed to hold our Joint Consultative Commission very soon”.

“Will continue to work closely to reach the ambitious goals set by our leaders,” he wrote.

Officials familiar with the development said during the conversation the two ministers, among other things, talked about the trial run of a cross country vessel on Saturday when it traveled in a 93-kilometre waterway from Bangladesh’s Daudkandi to Sonamura of India’s Tripura state.

They said despite being a virtual one, Bangladesh would host the 6th JCC meeting as the 5th meeting was held in New Delhi in February last year between Momen and his then Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj.

Diplomatic sources in Delhi, the JCC meeting was likely to discard a planned or expected foreign secretary level meeting because of time constraints.

“I don’t think that Bangladesh FS would be able to visit India by this time since the JCC is likely to be held in virtual platform this month,” one senior diplomat at Bangladesh’s New Delhi mission said preferring anonymity.

The 5th JCC meeting held on February 8 last year yielded four memorandums of understanding (MoUs) to further strengthen the existing multifaceted cooperation between the two neighbouring countries.

The MoUs were on mid-career training of 1800 Bangladesh civil servants; cooperation between India’s AYUSH and Bangladesh’s Health ministries in the field of medicinal plants; cooperation between Bangladesh’s Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI); and cooperation between Hiranandani Group and Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority to facilitate investments in the Indian Economic Zone in Mongla.

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