The New Nation - Internet Edition

BSS, New Delhi

Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh yesterday assured Bangladesh of reducing trade gap between the two neighbourly countries and said steps to be taken to maintain a balance of trade by importing more from Bangladesh and removing non-tariff barriers further.

The assurance came when Chief Adviser Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed called on Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh at the latter's residence here. Earlier, the Chief Adviser arrived in New Delhi to attend the 2nd BIMSTEC summit beginning in the Indian capital tomorrow.

Foreign Adviser Dr Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, Press Secretary to the Chief Adviser Syed Fahim Munaim and Bangladesh High Commissioner to India Liaquat Ali Choudhury were present.

From the Indian side present were Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee, National Security Adviser K Narayanan, Foreign Secretary Shibsankar Menon and Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Pinak R. Chakravarty were present.

After the meeting, Foreign Adviser Dr Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury and Press Secretary to the Chief Adviser Syed Fahim Munaim briefed the newsmen.

Dr Iftekhar said the meeting was held in a very cordial atmosphere and both the leaders expressed satisfaction over the existing bilateral relations and hoped it will be strengthened further in the days to come.

Dr Manmohan appreciated the success of Bangladesh in food production during the last year saying the country achieved remarkable progress in different social sectors.

He lauded the completion of the huge task of voter list with photographs of more than 80 million voters across the country using own resources.

Appreciating the role of garment sector, he said it helped poverty reduction as well as women empowerment in Bangladesh.

On the reduction of trade gap, the Indian Prime Minister said his government is trying to remove non-tariff barriers with Bangladesh so that more Bangladeshi products could enter into the Indian markets.

In this connection, he said, India is importing a good number of garment products from Bangladesh.

Dr Fakhruddin said Bangladesh is in favour of more trade facilitation from the Indian side so that a win-win situation prevails in bilateral trade. He said both the countries have the similar stand against terrorism in its all forms.

Referring to Manmohan Singh's scheduled visit to Washington in the backdrop of world economic slowdown, Dr Fakhruddin said the developing countries should raise their voice so that progress of their development programmes is not hampered and MDGs could be achieved in time.

The Indian Prime Minister appreciated the proposal of Bangladesh to form BIMSTEC Food Bank for ensuring food security in this region.

Dr Iftekhar said New Delhi BIMSTEC summit which begins tomorrow will mainly focus on issues like world economic slowdown, food security, energy crisis and climate change.

Earlier, on his arrival at the Indira Gandhi International Airport the chief adviser was received by Indian Minister of State Mr. Aswini Kumar. He was then taken to Hotel Taj Mahal by a ceremonial motorcade.

Later in the evening, the chief adviser attended a banquet hosted by Indian Prime Minister in honour of the BIMSTEC leaders at Hotel ITC MAURYA.