Bangladesh is looking for India’s support to enhance trilateral cooperation between New Delhi, Thimpu and Dhaka in the area of hydropower.

Muhammad Imran, Bangladesh’s High Commissioner to India brought up the issue when he made a courtesy call on Raj Kumar Singh, Minister of Power and New & Renewable Energy. The two also discussed matters critical for commissioning of Maitree Super Thermal Power Project at Rampal and transnational power connectivity.

Other critical issues related to bilateral cooperation in power, new and renewable energy sectors were also discussed.

Dhaka based newspaper, the Daily Star said in a report that as Bangladesh looks towards green sources of energy, it has been speaking of regional hydropower cooperation, especially with countries like India, Nepal and Bhutan. However, the initiative has not seen much progress as of now, according to a statement of the Bangladesh High Commission in Delhi, the news organization noted.

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On Monday, the high commissioner also met Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister for Railways, Communications and Electronics and Information Technology.

Meanwhile, India has agreed to supply locomotives and passenger carriages and transfer technology for railway signalling systems to the South Asian nation. The two countries are already working on measures that will boost connectivity.

Analysts told India Narrative that the Covid pandemic has further brought out the need for regional cooperation and boosting connectivity.

Currently bilateral trade is estimated at around $10 billion. The World Bank report revealed that in East Asian and Sub-Saharan African economies, intraregional trade accounts for 50 per cent and 22 per cent of total trade, respectively. “In fact, it is about 15–20 percent less expensive for a company in India to trade with a company in Brazil or Germany than with a company in Bangladesh,” the report said.