Foreign Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud said Bangladesh has sought support from India to become a member of BRICS, a group of emerging-market nations - the acronym stands for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
"If BRICS decides to take a new member or partner, we want to be a part of the BRICS. We have sought support from India to this end (during the delegation-level talks)," he said.
He briefed the media about Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's engagements on her two-day state visit to India at the invitation of her Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi.
The foreign minister said the delegation level talks featured many issues of bilateral interests that include joint management of 54 common rivers and their water sharing, connectivity, trade, security, border management, introduce of quota for Bangladesh to import essential commodities from India, quick medical visas for Bangladeshis and development of partnership.
During the meeting, both sides expressed their satisfaction as the bilateral relations between Bangladesh and India have been strengthening and continuing to reach new heights under the dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for the last 15 years and Indian premier Narendra Modi in the last 10 years.
"Both sides have expressed their willingness to elevate further the relations," Dr Hasan said.
Replying to a question, he said that Bangladesh and India have shared 54 common rivers.
The matter of forming joint river management for the rivers has prominently come to the delegation-level talks, the foreign minister said.
"Joint river management is important as it can help us to fight together the adverse impact of the climate change," he said.
Replying to a query, Dr Hasan said Bangladesh is set to import electricity from Bhutan and Nepal and Bangladesh has already signed an agreement with Bhutan to this end.
He said Bangladesh has talked about the matter with India and "India gave a very positive response".
It is not enough to only produce electricity and it also requires a transmission line to distribute the power, the minister said.
Hasan said India has been currently working to set up a transmission line for 3,000mw power.
"India will facilitate Bangladesh from the transmission line to this end," he said.
Dhaka Tribune
