India counts Bangladesh first in its neighbourhood policy

News Desk

Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Pranay Kumar Verma has said bilateral relations between Bangladesh and India have been complementing each other’s development and that New Delhi counts Dhaka first in its neighbourhood operation policy.

“Our Bilateral relationship today is truly multifaceted and complements each other’s national development,” Verma said while speaking at the unveiling ceremony of “Bharat Bichitra Special Edition” on the occasion of its golden jubilee of publication at the Indian High Commission in Dhaka.

The high commissioner said India and Bangladesh have been enjoying such an excellent relationship that finds “few parallels across the world.”

“India caters top most priority to the relations with Bangladesh… for us, as we often say, it is neighbourhood first, but it is neighbourhood two … it is Bangladesh first,” he said.

The envoy noted that when India became president of G20, New Delhi invited Bangladesh as a special guest country to join deliberations of the important multinational platform.

“We believe that the success of Bangladesh in contributing to global development, to address some of the global challenges, overcome the adversities and achieve progress… those stories to be heard at the global platforms and from these important lessons can be drawn by others,” he said.

He said New Delhi not only honoured a very important friend of India but also is celebrating partnership and friendship by inviting Bangladesh as its special guest country at G20.

Since 1971, he said, both Bangladesh and India together have become fast-growing economies of the world today.

“Our advancing progress and our rising ambitions for a better future are creating new opportunities and new momentum for our cooperation,” he said.

He said there is a great degree of commitment from the leaders of “our two countries who take the Bangladesh-India ties to newer heights.”

“The special edition of ‘Bharat Bichitra,’ that also marked the 50th year of this flagship publication of the High Commission of India,” the envoy said.

In these 50 years, he said, “Bharat Bichitra” has captured all the major moments and milestones of India-Bangladesh relations and it has also been a reservoir of all sentiments and mutual empathy.

He said “Bharat Bichitra” has been a valuable platform to promote cultural exchange with Bangladesh and to enhance the standing of India among the people of Bangladesh.

The first issue of the magazine was published in April 1973; since then, its publication has gone on uninterruptedly even during the Covid-19 pandemic, he added.

The special edition features articles, interviews and translations that reflect the diversity and richness of Indian culture, and chronicles the development and contribution of Bangladesh to the region and the world.

Lawmaker Asaduzzaman Noor, Bangla Academy President Selina Hossain and Director General Mohammad Nurul Huda also spoke, among others, while a number of eminent poets recited poems marking the occasion.