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Transcript of Special Media Briefing by Foreign Secretary on State Visit of the President to Bangladesh (December 14, 2021)

December 14, 2021

Shri Arindam Bagchi, Official Spokesperson: Very good evening to all of you, Namaskar. Thank you for joining us at this late hour for special briefing. This is on the occasion of visit of Hon’ble President of India to Bangladesh which starts tomorrow. To give us the flavour of what we can expect on the occasion, and the importance of this visit we have with us here Hon’ble Foreign Secretary Sir, Shri Harsh Vardhan Shringla, we are also joined today by the press secretary to the President Shri Ajay Kumar Ji, and of course Joint Secretary looking after Bangladesh & Myanmar in the Ministry of External Affairs Ms. Smita Pant. Sir, first as always, I invite you to give us the sense of where we are, the opening statement and then we will perhaps take few questions.

Shri Harsh Vardhan Shringla, Foreign Secretary: Thank you Arindam. Beginning tomorrow, the Hon’ble President of India Shri Ram Nath Kovind will be paying a state visit to Bangladesh. This visit will be from the 15th i.e. from tomorrow till the 17th of December. And this visit is in the context of the 50th Victory Day celebrations in Dhaka, at which the President of Bangladesh has invited Hon’ble President to represent India as guest of honour in this historically significant event. Hon’ble President will be accompanied by Hon’ble Minister of State for Education, Dr. Subhas Sarkar and Member of Parliament Shri Rajdeep Roy. As I mentioned, this is of great historical significance. The year 2021 commemorates the Golden Jubilee of Bangladesh's independence. It commemorates 50 years of the establishment of diplomatic relations between our two countries. It also commemorates the great victory over the Pakistani army and their unconditional surrender to our joint forces, the forces of Indian armed forces and Bangladesh's forces on the 16th of December, 1971. You are aware that this will be Hon’ble Rashtrapati ji’s first foreign visit since the outbreak of the COVID pandemic. It also signifies the importance both countries attach to this visit, Bangladesh inviting our Hon’ble President to be the guest of honour on this occasion to jointly commemorate this event at which he is the only foreign dignitary who would be represented. At the same time our President going out for the first time since the COVID pandemic is also very significant.

It was in the last Presidential visit from India to Bangladesh, was undertaken by Shri Pranab Mukherjee in 2013. Rashtrapati ji’s visit to Bangladesh has several significant elements, which reflects the strength of the India-Bangladesh partnership. As I mentioned he will begin his visit tomorrow morning and in the morning itself, he will proceed to Savar where he will pay tribute at the National Martyrs' Memorial. The Pakistani army in his genocidal campaign during the nine-month struggle for liberation, killed 3 million people and committed horrific atrocities and the memorial honours those who died and suffered during this 1971 period. The President will also visit thereafter the Bangabandhu Memorial Museum to pay respect to the memory of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the father of the nation of Bangladesh. The birth centenary of Bangabandhu is being celebrated as Mujib Borsho. You will recall that Hon’ble Prime Minister had visited Bangladesh on that occasion of the 50th anniversary but also the 100th anniversary of Bangabandhu’s birth. Rashtrapati ji will hold a delegation level meeting with the Hon’ble President of Bangladesh. The Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Her Excellency Sheikh Hasina will call on Hon’ble Rashtrapati ji. Foreign Minister of Bangladesh, Dr. A.K. Abdul Momen will also call on the Hon’ble President. So both the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister of Bangladesh will call an Hon’ble President. President of Bangladesh will host a banquet in honour of Rashtrapati ji on 15 December, that's tomorrow at Bangabhaban, which is the residence of the President of Bangladesh. On the forenoon of the 16th of December, Rashtrapati ji with attend the Victory Day parade at the National Parade ground as guest of honour. The parade includes, a 122 member tri service contingent from the Indian armed forces. Again, this is very unique and very special. Later in the evening, he will attend as guest of honour, the Victory Day reception hosted by the President of Bangladesh in their parliament premises to mark the conclusion of "Mujib Borsho” celebrations.

As you're aware, India stood shoulder to shoulder with the people of Bangladesh during their struggle. Millions of Bangladeshis found shelter and refuge in India. We recognise Bangladesh as an independent country, the second in the world to do so, before it became freed from the oppression that was there. It was an article of faith for us and a statement of our support for the righteousness of Bangladesh's cause. Indian armed forces joined Bangladeshi’s in their struggle and 1,660 of our gallant men in uniform paid the ultimate price for the freedom of Bangladesh. This will also be an occasion to honour their sacrifice. Rashtrapati ji’s programme includes an interaction with "muktijoddhas” that is those Bangladeshis who took up arms, fought to free their country with our armed forces, as well as Indian veterans. There will also be a delegation of Indian veterans who will be in Bangladesh at that time and they will be also there on the occasion to call on Hon’ble Rashtrapati ji. It will be an occasion to remember together a great victory for a great cause.

Rashtrapati ji’s programme also includes interaction with the cross section of Bangladeshi society, the Indian community and places of cultural and historical importance in Bangladesh. He will depart for India on 17th of December 2021. Bangladesh is a central pillar of our Neighbourhood First Policy. It is also a relationship where this policy intersects with elements of our Act East Policy. As I mentioned earlier this year, in March Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi Ji paid a state visit to Bangladesh to join the ‘Triveni’ of celebrations of the golden jubilee of the independence of Bangladesh, the birth Centenary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman; and 50 years of the establishment of diplomatic relations between India and Bangladesh. This is preceded by a visit by the Minister of External Affairs, Dr. S Jaishankar to Dhaka on the 4th of March 2021, and the virtual summit on 17th December 2020, between the two Prime Ministers. It is a measure of the importance that we accord to our relations with Bangladesh that it is the destination of the first post pandemic visits by both the President and the Prime Minister of India. It is also the only country visited by the president, the Prime Minister, the External Affairs Minister, in a short period of time in the recent past.

India and Bangladesh jointly commemorated Maitri Diwas a week ago on 6th December. This commemorates the day when India recognised Bangladesh as an independent country. It is jointly celebrated in New Delhi and Dhaka, but also in capitals all over the world. The Prime Ministers of India and Bangladesh both issued special messages on this occasion. The visit of our President provides an opportunity to renew our bonds based on a shared geographical space, shared heritage, shared history, and the shared experience of our support for Bangladesh during its war of liberation. It is also an occasion to take note of the breadth, depth, vitality and dynamism of contemporary ties. It is today a relationship that is based on a similar economic journey, similar aspirations, similar developmental experiences and a growing friendship and contact between our two peoples. India is today one of Bangladesh's most important economic partners. Bangladesh is India's largest trade partner in South Asia and India is the second largest trade partner of Bangladesh. Despite the pandemic bilateral trade grew at an unprecedented rate of 14% from USD 9.46 billion in the year 2019-20 to USD 10.78 billion in 2020-21.

Bangladesh is also one of our most important development partners both in terms of value and range of cooperation. We extend about a third of our total global development assistance under the lines of credit to Bangladesh. In addition, we have been extending grant assistance of various projects to bring direct benefits to the local community. India-Bangladesh better connected than ever before. Road, rail, air, river and coastal connectivity is increasing, multimodal transport that utilises more than one of these channels today is very much possible.

A Joint energy space is steadily emerging. Our electricity grids are interconnected from East and West, with more than 1160 megawatts of power flowing across from India into Bangladesh. Hydrocarbons like diesel will soon move across on the India-Bangladesh friendship pipeline. So essentially, we have a robust set of institutional mechanisms, we cooperate in a wide range of areas. Our army and our Armed Forces chiefs regularly visit each other's countries. Recently, we had the chief army staff and navy staff of Bangladesh visit India and our chief army staff and Air staff also visited Bangladesh earlier this year. During the pandemic, we had extensive cooperation. And we work together in regional and international fora.

The visit of Rashtrapati ji is an occasion not just to take note of these encouraging trends and developments. It's also an occasion to seek newer areas of cooperation such as renewable energy, working together in the digital space, creating 21st Century education health care links. Rashtrapati ji is looking forward to being amongst the people of Bangladesh during these historic celebrations, he will carry with him the continuing good wishes of the people of India. And the message is that we will continue to stand behind Bangladesh in its developmental journey.

Shri Arindam Bagchi, Official Spokesperson: Thank you very much sir for a comprehensive overview of the visit. We will open the floor for questions. I see one already here. So, we will start with Sidhant. Please introduce yourself and the outlet for the record.

Sidhant: Hi, sir I’m Sidhant from WION. My question is, are there any pacts which will be signed during the visit? Also, historical and cultural sites, the President expected to visit like the Prime Minister did, he visited Orakandi and all those places. So any specific sites the President is expected to visit in Dhaka or maybe outside Dhaka?

Shri Harsh Vardhan Shringla, Foreign Secretary: Well, if you have to remember that the visit is in a specific context, Hon’ble Rashtrapati ji is in Bangladesh to commemorate jointly the Victory Day celebrations. So the focus is on that event. And I think around that event, there are some significant, let us say, side events that will take place that will involve both sort of commemoration of the historic and close People to People ties that our two countries enjoy. I think we will have to allow all of this to happen before we can start talking about this. But clearly, I think both on tomorrow as well as day after there are some occasions on which Hon’ble President will be undertaking certain gestures that would highlight the significance of this event. We will of course, do an event tomorrow evening also with the media to be able to bring you up to date with what is planned and what happens on that day. But what I want to emphasise is that when you talk about agreements, visit to other places, etc. you have to remember that this visit by the Head of State of our country in response to the Head of State of Bangladesh’s issuing an invitation is on a special occasion, is for a specific reason. And I think our focus is to commemorate that special milestone in our ties that is important to both our countries and peoples.

Kalol: Sir, Kalol from The Hindu. The celebrations are also coinciding with certain developments where we are seeing that the Americans have imposed sanctions on security officials of Bangladesh including their former army chief whose visa has been cancelled by the American government. Do you think these developments will cast a shadow on celebrations?

Shri Harsh Vardhan Shringla, Foreign Secretary: Look, I mean like with all other relationships, our focus is really on our bilateral relationship and we normally don't comment on relations between third countries and on this occasion also I would like to refrain from making any comment that would be extraneous to both the visit as well as our immediate priorities.

Manish Jha: Sir, main Manish Jha hoon TV9 se, chunki ye saal donon deshon ke liye bahut hi important hai aur aise men hamne dekha ki vijayadashami ke samay kis tarah se vahan pe Hindu Community ke saath jo atrocities hui, to halanki ye mauka nahi hai, lekin kya President ki visit mein iss par bhi concern aap log jataaenge officially? (Questioned in Hindi; Approximate Translation) Sir, I am Manish Jha from TV9, since this year is very important for both the countries and we saw how the atrocities were done on the Hindu community during Vijayadashami, so although this is not an opportunity, but will you officially express concern on this during the President's visit?

Shri Harsh Vardhan Shringla, Foreign Secretary: Dekhiye jaise maine bataya ye jo avsar jiske liye rashtrapati ji Bangladesh ja rahe hain, ye ek bahut mahatvapoorn avasar hai, jiska aitihaasik significance hai. Is ko dhyan mein rakhte hue hum chahte hain ki jo unche star par jo issues hain, jo mudde hain wo jaroor discuss honge par main kah nahin sakta ki exactly kaun se issues honge aur kaun se mudde par charcha hogi aur kaun se par nahi hogi, wo shayad visit ke baad hum bata paaenge aapko. (Answered in Hindi; Approximate Translation) See, as I told, the occasion for which Rashtrapati ji is going to Bangladesh, this is a very important occasion, which has historical significance. Keeping this in mind, we want that the most important issues will definitely be discussed but I cannot say exactly which issues will be discussed and which will not be discussed. We may be able to tell you only after the visit.

Sandhya: Sandhya with ET. Sir, a quick question on the vaccine diplomacy with Bangladesh. Are we resuming that because Bangladesh has been the country which has received the maximum amount of doses from India. What's the update on that with respect to this visit of the future? Thank you.

Shri Harsh Vardhan Shringla, Foreign Secretary: You're absolutely right in saying that Bangladesh has been the largest recipient of our vaccines. I think so far from what I understand Bangladesh has received 2 crore 18 lakh doses of Made in India vaccines of which 33 lakhs have been gifted and 1.5 crores have been extended on commercial basis as well as 35 lakhs under Covax, the Covax facility also. Even recently, we have made some very significant deliveries. You are aware that Prime Minister announced resumption of vaccine exports based on that we have made significant deliveries to Bangladesh, I think today there is a sense of satisfaction that Indian vaccines have been very instrumental in being able to combat the COVID-19 crisis, not only in our own country, but also in our neighbourhood. And I think that this is an excellent illustration of "sabka saath, sabka vikas, sabka vishwas”. It extends and covers the neighbourhood and we look at our vaccine policy from that point of view as well.

Speaker 1: Sir, there's a feeling that till two years back, the political ties between the two countries were very good, it still continues to be, but following the CAA controversy, and then what happened during the Durga Puja, there seems to be some sort of unease at the People to People level between the two countries. So would you share that assessment? Or would you differ from that?

Shri Harsh Vardhan Shringla, Foreign Secretary: I would say that having visited the country just a short while ago, I would completely dispel any sense or any perception that there is any unease in the relationship, I think there is no unease in relationship. The relationship is an extraordinary one. Relationship is not only a close relationship based on our multifaceted ties on which I've sort of also provided some information in my opening remarks. But it is based on ties of history, ties of culture, ties of language, and so it is bound by People to People ties, which I think cannot be replicated very often in other cases now. Those ties today are at a high point and I think that relationship which has been born out of the very strong leadership level, vision and guidance, I mentioned about Prime Minister's visit in March Hon’ble Rashtrapati ji’s visit, now. Very few countries can enjoy that level of leadership. And also said that the External Affairs Minister also visited Bangladesh.

So in a single year, you've had some very significant exchanges. We've had a visit of number of Bangladeshi ministers also to India. And I think it reflects the closeness and the intensity of our ties. And at no stage during my visit, did I ever get the impression that there was anything which would lend any credence to what you just said, on the contrary, I think it was made very clear to us that we are passing what is called a ‘shonali adhyay’, the two Prime Ministers had referred that our relationship is in a golden era and I think that very much is prevalent. I mean, the fact that Hon’ble President is going at their invitation to commemorate 16th of December, 50 years after Pakistani forces were defeated jointly by Indian and Bangladeshi forces, the birth of a new nation of Bangladesh is a very significant occasion, an occasion to cherish. And it is not an occasion on which either side would like to have any issue that is outstanding, any issue that is on the adverse or on the deficit side, I think we are looking at every relationship from a very, very positive perspective. And, of course, with all our close neighbours and our friends, we need to keep managing that relationship, we need to make sure that any issues that come up are addressed by the two sides, and if they're not addressed, we continue to talk about them, but I think, if you were to look at it, on a very, very objective perspective, this is really an excellent time for relationship and the visit of the Hon’ble President will strongly reinforce those very, very strong bonds of friendship and cooperation between our two countries.

Shri Arindam Bagchi, Official Spokesperson: So with that we come to the end of this special briefing. Thank you Foreign Secretary, sir for being here. Special thanks to Ajay Kumar Singh, Press Secretary to President, and of course, to Smita Pant, Joint Secretary (BM) for being here. Thank you all for joining us and stay tuned to our social media as well as our website and other outlets. We will continue to bring to you live the developments as they happen during the visit of Rashtrapati Ji to Bangladesh. Thank you. Namaskar.

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