DHAKA, Sept 14, 2022 (BSS) - Outgoing Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Vikram Doraiswami today termed restarting of Joint River Commission (JRC) meeting and Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Kushiyara River water sharing are most significant achievements regarding Dhaka-Delhi ties during his tenure here.

"I would say the decision by our two leaders (Sheikh Hasina and Narendra Modi) to restart JRC process and to move forward on Kushiyara water sharing agreement (are most significant) ... I was very happy that our leadership could agreed on that," he told journalists at his last media interaction at the old India House this evening in the capital. 

He said the MoU on Kushiyara river water sharing has great significance from public perspective as there is a perception that India doesn't want to share water. "I think this was consequential decision (Kushiyara water sharing)," he said. 

The envoy termed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's recent India visit as "extremely successful" with strong deliverables in all areas of cooperation including trade, connectivity and water sharing.

"So, our goal essentially was to ensure that the relationship goes forward with more trade, more cooperation," he said. 

Doraiswami identified three major achievements that Bangladesh and India have attained during the Prime Minister Sheikh Haisna's recent New Delhi visit. 

Among the three, he highlighted the decision to start negotiations for a comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA) and the transport and connectivity front apart from MoU on Kushiyara river water sharing, the first water sharing agreement that the two countries had since the Ganga water treaty in 1996.

He said the focus on transport and connectivity was very strong during the visit. "A very good package was negotiated and finalized in terms of railway connectivity in particular," he said. 

The High Commissioner said they intended to invite Bangladesh to be one of the guests at the G20 Summit, which India will host next September. "It's a very big deal," he said. 

He said Bangladesh will have an opportunity to be part of the larger process of negotiating outcomes for the totality of G20.

"It is not just an invitation for the Summit level process. It is an invitation for the totality of the G20 meetings during India's chairmanship," he added. 

Doraiswami also paid farewell calls on President Md Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.