The foreign minister, Dipu Moni, has said in New Delhi that the Indian prime minister, Manmohan Singh, has reassured her that the government of India is fully engaged in resolving pending issues with Bangladesh.
‘With reference to the proposed Tipaimukh Hydro-electric Dam Project and the River Inter-linking Project, he (Manmohan Singh) assured that India would not take any unilateral action, which would have an adverse impact on Bangladesh,’ she told journalists on Tuesday.
Dipu Moni said that the Indian prime minister’s assurance came when she called on Manmohan  at the end of her two-day visit to India on Tuesday.
Earlier, she also called on the minister for home affairs,
P Chidambaram, and the minister for water resources, Pawan Bansal.
During her call on the Indian premier, Manmohan  conveyed his greetings to his Bangladesh counterpart prime minister Sheikh Hasina and stated the government and the people of India had the greatest respect and deep admiration for her efforts to further develop the existing excellent bilateral relations between the two countries.
Manmohan conveyed the full commitment of his government to implement the various initiatives agreed to between him and the prime minister of Bangladesh to work together for not only mutual benefit, but also for the socio-economic development of the entire region.
He also reiterated that the government of India was fully engaged in resolving pending issues.  Manmohan assured with reference to the proposed Tipaimukh Hydro-electric Dam Project and the River Inter-linking Project that India would not take any unilateral action, which would have an adverse impact on Bangladesh.
He also asserted that Bangladesh and India should work with other neighbours in the region for economic growth and development.
Dipu Moni expressed her happiness on coming to India for two special events; the first meeting of the Joint Consultative Commission and to represent Bangladesh at the concluding ceremony of the joint celebrations of the 150th birth anniversary of Poet Rabindranath Tagore.
She noted with satisfaction that since his (Manmohan) visit to Dhaka in September 2011, there had been significant forward movement in the initiatives undertaken by both Bangladesh and India to further deepen and widen the relations between the two countries.
Dipu Moni also asserted the commitment of Sheikh Hasina of the government of Bangladesh to harness the synergies for mutual benefit. She said, during her meeting with the Indian home minister, the two ministers discussed issues of mutual interests, particularly those related to the security issues. They expressed satisfaction that the multi-tiered mechanism for consultations between the two sides was well established and the various engagements including JWG on security issues, DG BGB-BSF conference, home secretaries and home ministers were taking place regularly.
They particularly noted with satisfaction as desired by the two prime ministers the regular consultations between the home ministers of the two countries had been initiated by the visit of the Bangladesh home minister, Sahara Khatun, to India in February this year.
They also noted with satisfaction that the Coordinated Border Management Plan, had been implemented and the border guarding forces of the two countries were working accordingly to combat cross border illegal activities.
Dipu Moni reiterated the concern of the Bangladesh side regarding the incidents of firing and killing of Bangladeshi nationals along the border and noting the assurance in this regard from the highest political level, sought sustained efforts from Indian side to eliminate this irritant.
The two ministers agreed to continue their cooperation on the security matters, she said.
During her meeting with the Indian minister for water resources, Dipu Moni noted that the two sides had earlier agreed to a framework for the interim agreement on the sharing of water of the River Teesta on the basis of equity and fairness.
She expressed the hope that the interim agreement for sharing of the Teesta waters would be concluded expeditiously.
The minister noted with satisfaction that a sub-group under the Joint River Commission, to look into all aspects of the proposed Tipaimukh Hydro-electric Dam Project, has already been constituted in Bangladesh.
She urged the water resources minister of India to constitute their side of the sub-group and give directions to convene the first meeting of the sub-group expeditiously.
In response to the concern of the foreign minister of Bangladesh, the Indian minister reiterated its commitment that India would not take any unilateral decision on the Himalayan component of the proposed River Inter-linking Project, which would affect Bangladesh.
Both the ministers noted with satisfaction the formation of technical-level teams for sub-regional cooperation in water and power by both the countries and hoped that the first meeting would be convened at the earliest.
Dhaka and New Delhi have agreed to expedite efforts to sign an extradition treaty at the earliest, reports Bdnews24.com.
Dipu Moni, and her Indian counterpart SM Krishna noted that the legal framework for bilateral security cooperation would be completed with the signing of the extradition treaty.
According to a joint statement issued after Krishna and Moni co-chaired the first meeting of the Joint Consultative Committee in New Delhi on Monday, Dhaka and New Delhi reiterated their commitment that the territory of either side would not be allowed for activities inimical to the other, and resolved not to allow their respective territories to be used for training, sanctuary and other operations by domestic or foreign terrorist/militant or insurgent organisations and their operatives.
The two countries also rejected extremism, violence and terrorism and agreed to cooperate proactively in combating these evils.