india

Updated: Jul 07, 2020 02:31 IST

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday held bilateral talks with his Bangladeshi counterpart, Sheikh Hasina, as India and Bangladesh signed several pacts in areas including defence, trade and connectivity.

Prime Minister Modi said the aim of the two countries is to make lives better its people and that’s “the basis of our friendship” as he inaugurated three projects, including one for the cross-border supply of LPG to the northeast, along with Sheikh Hasina.

Watch | PM Modi, Sheikh Hasina jointly inaugurates 3 projects, hold bilateral talks

“We have launched 12 projects together in the last one year. Our aim is to make lives better for our people. And that’s the basis of our friendship,” Modi said.

“Taking LPG from Bangladesh is a win-win situation. It will provide gas to India and jobs in Bangladesh,” he said.

“The pipeline we inaugurated today has many advantages. It makes the process more eco-friendly and cost-effective. It makes it possible for operations to be all-weather and round-the-year,” the Prime Minister added.

Seven documents were signed in the fields of transport, connectivity, capacity-building and culture, including an agreement on the implementation of a Line of Credits (LOC) extended to Bangladesh and a memorandum of understanding on providing coastal surveillance system.

Earlier, external affairs minister S Jaishankar called on Hasina.

“EAM @DrSJaishankar had a warm conversation with Bangladesh PM #SheikhHasina. Reaffirmed India’s highest priority to her relations with Bangladesh,” the spokesperson of the foreign ministry Raveesh Kumar tweeted.

Sheikh Hasina arrived in the Indian capital on Thursday on a four-day visit to India to further intensify bilateral relations between the two countries.

She had met Modi on September 27 on the sidelines of the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly in New York.