Indian finance minister arrives in Dhaka

Indian Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs Arun Jaitley has arrived in Dhaka on Tuesday in a three-day official visit in an invitation of his counterpart AMA Muhith.

During the visit, the Indian minister is expected to discuss various issues, including the implementation of the $4.5 billion Indian line of credit for development projects and to hold talks with Bangladesh Finance Minister AMA Muhith and other government dignitaries.

The Indian minister will leave Dhaka on October 5.

Arun Jaitley will be accompanied by Indian Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg along with other senior officials and a 30-member high-level business delegation from the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).

India and Bangladesh have witnessed a deepening of bilateral economic cooperation in recent years, particularly in terms of increasing volumes of trade and investment flows.

The two ministers are expected to review the status of economic cooperation and development partnership initiatives taken during the visit of the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi to Bangladesh in June 2015 and the Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina to India in April 2017.

During the visit of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to India in April 2017, an Indian line of credit of $4.5 billion was announced for Bangladesh.

The agreement for the implementation of this third LOC is expected to be signed in the presence of the both the finance ministers on Wednesday.

This will bring the total quantum of credit lines extended by India to Bangladesh over the last six years to $8 billion.

The signing of the third LOC agreement will enable the implementation of a number of key infrastructure projects of priority to Bangladesh.

In addition, the ‘Joint Interpretative Notes on the Agreement between India and Bangladesh for the Promotion and Protection of Investments’ will also be signed in the presence of the two ministers.

The Indian finance minister is scheduled to deliver speeches in four different events.

He will address a select audience on ‘Macroeconomic Initiatives of the Govt. of India’, at an event organised by the Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh and the High Commission of India.

Source: dailysun