Our Correspondent/ Dhaka —
It was a historic moment to two neighbors when, India and Bangladesh exchanged the Instruments of Ratification of the land boundary Agreement today.
Foreign Secretaries of India and Bangladesh signed and exchanged the Instruments of Ratification in the presence of Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Sheikh Hasina. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was also present on the occasion.
India and Bangladesh on Saturday signed 19 agreements, protocols and MOUs for co-operation in diverse areas like trade and investment, education, Information and Communication Technology, climate change and joint maritime research.
Important among these are the second credit line of 2 billion dollars, MOU for use of Chittagong and Mongla port, MOU on Climate Change, MOU between ICCR and Dhaka University for joint research in Bay of Bengal, and Exclusive.
In another friendly move and people contacts and connectivity narrative, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina flagged off two transboundary buses linking Guwahati to Dhaka via Shillong and Kolkata to Tripura via Dhaka in the presence of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
Both Prime Ministers entered the buses and exchanged symbolic tickets with each other.
The Kolkata-Tripura route via Dhaka cuts the journey time by almost 1000 kms as compared to the currently used route via the northeast. Earlier Mamata Bannerjee met the Prime Minister in a one-to-one meeting.