The third edition of the Ambassador Speaks series was addressed by His Excellency Mr. Muhammad Imran, High Commissioner of Bangladesh to India. He spoke on “Bangladesh-India Relations at 50.” Mr. Imran was welcomed by Dr. Raghunath Mashelkar, President (PIC) and Mr. Vijay Gokhale, Member, PIC, chaired the session.
Mr. Imran began by noting that India’s distribution of vaccines among its South Asian neighbours was proof of India’s commitment to the region. He said with mutual exchange of knowledge, expertise and resources, the course of the pandemic could surely be reversed.
The High Commissioner noted that despite contentions that Bangladesh-India relations had fluctuated a bit over the past years at the official level, people-to-people relations and contacts had continued without a hitch. He spoke of how the India-Bangladesh relationship had been forged in the crucible of the war of 1971, which led to the independence of Bangladesh. He also provided a brief history of Bangladesh’s spectacular growth story over the past few decades.
The High Commissioner traced the evolution of the Bangladesh-India relations over the past 50 years, from the time of the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1972, to the water-sharing treaty and finally to the Land Boundary Agreement. Despite intermittent lulls in bilateral relations, he noted that the two nations had remained strongly connected and were resolute partners in development.
The session was followed by a short question and answer round with the audience.
