The 8th round of Bangladesh-India Friendship Dialogue concluded in Assam yesterday with "Guwahati Declaration" that emphasized on greater collaboration between North East India and Bangladesh to enhance bilateral trade and bridge trade deficit between the two countries, reports BSS.
"The eighth dialogue is now convinced that visionary progress made by the two countries over last seven years ought to continue in stronger strides and deserves stronger institutional attention from the relevant ministries and agencies of the two governments," the declaration said.
It read that the Eighth Session of the Friendship Dialogue has carefully assessed the impact of the changing world order on peace, stability and prosperity of South Asia, in particular, of India and Bangladesh.
It suggested to prepare a vision document and research report on "North East India and Bangladesh: Borders as Prosperity Zones" and organize an India-Bangladesh Business Summit, the declaration added.
"With an aim to ensure sustainable political goodwill and trust, economic growth and shared prosperity of the peoples of India and Bangladesh, the eighth iteration declares its conviction that ensuring greater people-to-people and business-to-business contacts between the Northeastern Region of India and Bangladesh is crucial," it said.
The Eighth iteration suggested a security and economic vision of South Asia for 2030 - which is built on a platform of innovation and entrepreneurship as it assessed the possibilities and modalities for designing sustainable and forward-looking mechanisms in joint finance and promotion of both innovative and high-end value-added products and services.
It also re-assessed and measured progress in the areas discussed in the sixth and seventh rounds, particularly in managing peaceful and prosperous international borders and security; water and energy security, connectivity with special emphasis on utilizing inland waterways, sub-regional and regional development and utilization of mega-architectures.
The Eighth round of India Bangladesh Friendship Dialogue also observed that "Bangladesh and India share a special bond, which is generic, granular and unbroken, by sovereign boundaries of Post-Westphalian Republics".
"The bond is civilizational and is sanctified by the blood of those martyrs who fought together for the glorious independence of Bangladesh in 1971," it added.
The Ninth round of India-Bangladesh Friendship Dialogue will be held in Coxs Bazar, Bangladesh in early next year, the declaration said.