The high level discussions between the border security forces of two neighbours will begin in New Delhi on January 6.

Director General of Bangladesh Rifle (BDR) Major General Jahangir Alam Chowdhury and Chief of Border Security Force (BSF) of India Ajoy Raj Sharma will led their respective sides, sources said.

The Bangladesh delegation is scheduled to leave Dhaka on January 5 and return home on January 10.

Cross-border crimes like human trafficking, smuggling and firing are commonplace along over 4,000-km border between Bangladesh and India.

Tensions also flare up along the border when India tries to push-in a large number of Bengali-speaking people into Bangladesh.

In February last, tensions ran high for several weeks in the bordering areas in Lalmonirhat Panchagarh, Kurigram, and Jessore as BSF tried to push in Bengali-speaking people into Bangladesh.

Around 200 people were stranded on no-man's land along Kurigram border during that time.

The attempts, however, were foiled in the face of strong resistance by the BDR.

Last year saw a decline in the incidents of killing of innocent Bangladeshis by the BSF following a high level discussion that took place in Dhaka in March. The number of deaths came down to around 40 from 80 in 2002.

The sources said smuggling and human trafficking would also decline significantly if such talks take place regularly.

According to traders, goods worth more than one billion US dollars are smuggled in from India a year while huge imported foreign goods are smuggled out of Bangladesh.

In addition, a large number of women and children are also being trafficked to India.

According to a recent survey by a non-government organisation, on an average about 20 women and children are trafficked every day.

Some of them end up at various brothels in India while others are trafficked to Pakistan and Middle Eastern countries.