Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Dinesh Trivedi paid a courtesy call on BNP National Standing Committee member and Prime Minister’s Adviser on Public Administration, with the rank of a minister, Md Ismail Jabuiullah, at the adviser’s office at the Bangladesh Secretariat on Monday.

The meeting discussed increasing people-to-people contacts between the two countries and advancing bilateral relations.

At the beginning of the meeting, High Commissioner Dinesh Trivedi greeted the adviser with flowers and exchanged pleasantries with him. They also exchanged views on various aspects of bilateral relations.

Adviser Md Ismail Jabuiullah said Bangladesh and India are friendly neighboring countries. The two countries share a long border, and bringing border killings down to zero is important for improving understanding between their peoples.

He called for reducing the trade deficit between the two countries and ensuring Bangladesh’s fair share of the waters of the Ganges. He also emphasized strengthening people-to-people relations without maintaining ties exclusively with any particular political party.

He expressed hope that Bangladesh-India bilateral relations would be further strengthened under the capable leadership of the current Indian high commissioner.

During the meeting, High Commissioner Dinesh Trivedi highlighted the shared cultural and historical ties between Bangladesh and India. He also mentioned the strong demand for Bangladeshi hilsa in India and requested that Bangladeshi officials be sent to India for training.

The Indian high commissioner expressed optimism that cooperation between the two countries would be expanded in their mutual interests. He emphasized the need to resume training and skills-development programmes between the public administrations of the two countries.

He said relations between Bangladesh and India need to be taken forward in the interests of the people of both countries. He also expressed hope for another meeting in the future.

Relevant officials from the Indian High Commission were present at the meeting.