Prime minister Sheikh Hasina met with senior cabinet members Tuesday to identify strategic issues ahead of her visit to India next month.

The meeting at her office also raised specific projects, including new cross border rail and submarine cable links, to be placed before the Indian government.

Directing her ministries to prepare strategic papers "as a measure to step up bilateral and regional cooperation", she highlighted several potential areas of discussion with India.

These included roads and highways, proper use of rivers, uses of media and telecommunications, power, environment, agriculture, education, tourism and maritime boundary, the prime minister's deputy press secretary Nazrul Islam said after the meeting.

Hasina also sought a final list of Bangladesh products for possible tariff-free access to the Indian market, to even the trade imbalance.

She instructed the concerned ministries to finalise specific project proposals 'on a priority basis', said Islam.

These included a new cross border Agartala-Akhaura rail link, a Khulna-Chennai alternative submarine cable link and bridge construction on the Karnafuli river at Kalurghat in Chittagong, he said.

Finance minister AMA Muhith, agriculture minister Matia Chowdhury, water resources minister Ramesh Chandra Sen, commerce minister Faruque Khan, communications minister Abul Hossain and shipping minister Shahjahan Khan were among those present at the meeting of the committee on regional and sub-regional cooperation.

Islam said, "The prime minister called poverty the biggest problem of the region and said neighbouring countries should make all concerted efforts to fight it."

Source: bdnews24.com

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