Prime minister Sheikh Hasina will hold a virtual meeting with her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi tomorrow as the two countries are set to sign at least four memorandums of understanding on the occasion.
Hasina will lead the Bangladesh delegation in the talks from her official residence Ganabhaban at about 11:30am.
Modi will join the meeting online from New Delhi.
The drafts of the four memorandums that are finalised for signing by the two sides are on a framework for cooperation in the hydrocarbon sector, on the trans-boundary conservation of elephants, on a sewage treatment plant in Barisal and on high impact community development projects, Bangladesh officials said.
The two sides are also working on signing on MoUs on cooperation among the staff colleges of the armed forces, museums and the national cadet corps of the two countries.
There will be no signing on sharing of water of the common rivers flowing through the two countries, officials said.
The Bangladesh side is also expected to focus on sharing of water of common rivers, including the River Teesta, removal of tariff and non-tariff barriers on export to its next-door neighbour and the improvement of border management with the implementation of decisions made at the highest level to stop border killing.
India is likely to focus on expeditious implementation of the projects and decisions under the lines of credits and defence cooperation, officials said.
The two prime ministers are also set to reopen a rail route connecting Halidari in West Bengal of India and Chilahati in Nilphamari of Bangladesh after a gap of 55 years, they said.
The rail link between India and the then East Pakistan was snapped during the war in 1965 between India and Pakistan.
Modi was scheduled to visit Bangladesh on March 17, but the tour was postponed amid the COVID-19 outbreak.
He is highly likely to visit Bangladesh either on March 17 or March 26 in 2021, officials added.
