Achieved a lot from India, says PM

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said that her recently visit to India has initiated a new horizon.

She said, “We want to strengthen the relationship and move forward. I did not return with empty hands from there.”

The Premier said this while addressing a press conference held at the official Ganabhaban residence about her just-concluded official visit to India on Wednesday (September 14) afternoon. PM starts to read out a written statement at the very beginning.

When asked what we achieved from India, the Prime Minister said, “Geographically Bangladesh is surrounded by India. We are getting the cooperation from that friendly country... we are bringing oil through the pipeline to get refined oil easily. Northern region will get oil easily. We have to import products. Problems often arise everywhere, that has also been discussed. We have discussed about importing LNG from India…if you think like that, we achieved a lot. I did not come back empty handed.”

When asked how the sincerity of the country was during the visit, Sheikh Hasina said, “India’s sincerity was always there. All parties in India agree on Bangladesh. As in 1971, all parties supported Bangladesh unitedly. Again when we exchanged enclaves, when it was passed in the Parliament of India, all the parties supported it. There may be many problems with a country. But they can be resolved through discussion. Our foreign policy is at least clear- not enmity with any, friendship with all. After 1996, no one talked about international maritime boundaries. After coming to power for the second time, we acquired maritime boundaries with India and Myanmar through international courts. But this did not cause any rift in friendly relations.”