Indian foreign secy meets Mahmood Ali

Visiting Indian Foreign Secretary Subramanyam Jaishankar met with Bangladesh Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali this afternoon.
“We want more cooperation. We had very successful and constructive meeting,” Jaishankar told reporters after the 35-minute meeting at the foreign ministry. 
Earlier in the afternoon, Jaishankar met with his Bangladeshi counterpart Md Shahidul Haque and discussed the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (Saarc), Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (Bimstec) and other bilateral issues.
“We had a very good discussion,” Jaishankar said after his 45-minute meeting with Shahidul at the foreign ministry around 1:30pm.
“I look forward to further meetings today,” he added.
Asked about Teesta water sharing, he added, “That’s all I would like to say at this time."
Briefing journalists on his meeting with Jaishankar, the Bangladesh foreign secretary said the main message of his Indian counterpart is that the Modi government wants a deeper friendship with Bangladesh.  
“We discussed bilateral, regional and international issues,” said Shahidul, adding Bangladesh is part of Shankar’s visit to four Saarc countries.
“India attaches top priority to its next door neighbours,” Shahidul quoted the Indian foreign secretary as saying in the meeting.
Shankar has expressed India’s sincerity regarding Teesta issue, said Shahidul, adding Bangladesh and India are hopeful about early implementation of the Land Boundary Agreement (LBA).
Shahidul also said India has assured of measures to remove trade barriers so that Bangladeshi items can be exported to India easily.
He will meet Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina later in the evening.
He was received by Bangladeshi Foreign Secretary Md Shahidul Haque and Indian High Commissioner Pankaj Saran on his arrival at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport around 11:35am.
Jaishankar, who took office on January 29, came on a 24-hour working visit and will travel to Islamabad tomorrow and then to Kabul the following day.
Diplomatic sources yesterday said that India's top diplomat is coming as part of his “yatra” of four Saarc countries with Bhutan as the first stop. He is seeking to revive and reinforce New Delhi's neighbourhood diplomacy.
His discussion will focus on sub-regional level cooperation involving Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal (BBIN).
During this time Jaishankar will discuss an entire range of bilateral, sub-regional and regional issues on common interest.
Discussions will also include bilateral issues including a Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) and the Teesta water deal. The LBA is expected to be tabled in the Indian Parliament for clearance. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee assured Dhaka of her support for the Teesta deal during her visit to Dhaka on February 19-21.
Diplomatic sources in Dhaka and New Delhi also said that Jaishankar would initiate discussion with the government high-ups on Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Dhaka.
However, a prime ministerial visit could not take place without at least deliverables on the two key issues with Bangladesh, the LBA and Teesta deal.
Jaishankar's visit to the region comes at a time when India is pushing ahead with a sub-regional connectivity project with Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan to provide easier transit of passenger, personal and cargo vehicles among the four Saarc nations.
The Joint Working Group (JWG) of BBIN at a meeting on January 30-31 in New Delhi reviewed the existing cooperation and discussed the scope for power trade and inter-grid connectivity between the four countries as well as potential for closer cooperation in future power projects.
India's offer to start electricity trading among BBIN will also come up for discussion during his meeting with the Bangladeshi dignitaries.
The four nations have also agreed that joint efforts would be made to explore harnessing of water resources including hydropower and power from other sources available in the sub-region.
Jaishankar's visit to Bangladesh comes at a time when the country is in the throes of the continuing political unrest spurred by the BNP-led 20-party combine.