[🇧🇩] Indo-Bangla Relation: India's Regional Ambition, Geopolitical Reality, and Strategic Options For Bangladesh

[Krishna with Flute]

That is because you haven't been there, this below is not even a top tier hospital in Bangkok (Bumrungrad)- but they gladly cater to Bangladeshi patients and cost is actually lower than that of India. I think the standards are probably better than that of India as well. They don't actually call Bangladeshi patients smelly, short and dark like Indians call Bangladeshis. They are decent civilized people unlike in some parts of India where they have threatened to beat up Bangladeshi patients and stopped giving Bangladeshis medical visas.

Eventually Bangladeshi hospitals will reach this standard as well, but for now, Bangkok will do. We are glad to support their economy for now.

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Your doctor buddy will jump up and down about this being worse than India, but we all know better.

Inpatient Capacities​

• 580 Inpatient Beds include:
  • Medical/Surgical/OB/Pediatrics
  • Adult Intensive Care (ICU)
  • Cardiac Care (CCU)
  • Pediatric Intensive Care
  • Level IV Neonatal Intensive Care
• Single Deluxe Rooms, Premier Atrium Deluxe, Premier Royal Suites, 2 Bedded, and 4 Bedded
• Wi-Fi Connection: a wide selection of television channels as well as the hospital’s information and services

Outpatient Facilities​

• 275 Examination Suites
• Ambulance and mobile critical care fleet
• 24-hour emergency care, including emergency cardiac catheterization
• A capacity of 5,500 outpatients per day
• Outpatient Surgery Center

Outpatient Clinics, Centers and Programs​

1. Allergy Center
2. Arrhythmia Center
3. Behavioral Health Center
4. Breast Center
5. Breastfeeding Clinic
6. Bumrungrad @ Home Service Center
7. Bumrungrad Clinic Yangon
8. Bumrungrad COVID-19 Recovery Clinic
9. Bumrungrad Orthopaedics Center
10. Bumrungrad Robotic Surgery Center
11. Bumrungrad Spine Institute
12. Bumrungrad Rehabilitation Center
13. Children’s (Pediatrics) Center
14. Colorectal Surgery Center
15. Complex Coronary Artery Intervention Center
16. Comprehensive Sleep Clinic
17. Cornea Transplant Center
18. Dental Center
19. Diagnostic Center
20. Diagnostic Radiology and Nuclear Medicine
21. Dialysis Center
22. Digestive Disease (GI) Center
23. Ear, Nose and Throat Center
24. Emergency Center
25. Endocrinology, Diabetes & Clinical Nutrition Center
26. Esperance
27. Expatriate Liaison Center
28. Eye Center
29. Fertility Center and IVF Clinic
30. Gastrointestinal Motility Center
31. Health Screening Center
32. Hearing and Balance Clinic
33. Heart Institute
34. Holistic Wound Care Center
35. Horizon Cancer Center
36. Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Center
37. Intensive Care Unit (ICU)
38. Medical Clinic
39. Memory Clinic
40. Men’s Center
41. Nephrology (Kidney) Center
42. Neurocritical Care
43. Neuroscience Center
44. New Life Healthy / Aging Clinic
45. Nutrition Services
46. Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders Clinic
47. Perinatal Center
48. Pharmacy Services
49. Plastic (Cosmetic) Surgery Center
50. Preventive Genomics and Integrative Medicine
51. Pride Clinic
52. Pulmonary (Lung) Center
53. Refractive Surgery Center
54. Robotic Scoliosis Center
55. Sports Medicine Center
56. Surgery Clinic and Surgery Center
57. Travel Medicine Center
58. Urology Center
59. Vaccine Clinic
60. VitalLife Scientific Wellness Center
61. VitalLife Skin & Aesthetic Center
62. Women's Center

Special Facilities and Services​

1. 2 cardiac catheterization laboratories
2. 2 cardiac operating theaters
3. 19 operating theaters
4. Automated lab on-site
5. Brachytherapy
6. Bone marrow transplantation unit
7. Electrophysiology lab
8. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy unit
9. Interventional radiology
10. MAKO Robot Arthroplasty/MAKOplasty®
11. MRI, CT and Lithotripsy
12. Neonatal critical care transport
13. Nuclear medicine
14. PACS radiology
15. PET/CT scanner
16. Pharmacy robot
17. Precision Medicine for Oncology
18. Radiation therapy (linear accelerator)
19. Robot-assisted Prostate Cancer and Kidney Cancer Surgery using da Vinci System
20. Sleep lab
21. Surgical navigation system
22. VitalLife Scientific Wellness Center
23. VMAT (Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy)

First of all, I never say Bangladeshi or Pakistani Smelly, dark, Short or uncivilized as BD had been a part of India for Millinia before it separated 7 decades ago. Those words were used by Punjabi Pakistani generals in 1970s. It is true that with the promotion of Wahabi styled Islam with funding of gulf, radicalism rose in BD and Pakistan and they started behaving in uncivilized manner particularly with Hindus in a manner which may put those radical Arabs to shame.

Secondly, nothing from what you posted confirms Thailand's medical facility anywhere close to India. It can be decent for not very sever diseases but certainly shall not be good enough for critical problems. Recently, one of my friend got his ligament surgery done in Amadavad. It was very critical, but doctor guaranteed that he will become absolutely normal in 6 months of time. India is a global destination of cost effective and quality medical treatment in world. People here come for medical treatment not only from BD but from across the world including first world countries.

 

[Krishna with Flute]

Thai facilities (even govt. facilities) are more modern than India and Doctors more educated to boot. You have not been to Thailand I presume.....you should go sometime.

Then why Bangladeshis were not going there prior to they used to come to India for medical treatment. Secondly, do not say that they are more educated than Indian doctors. No other doctors in general are more educated than Indian doctors. Here the syllabus which is taught in Graduation is taught in post-graduation elsewhere. This is true for any other discipline.

 

[Krishna with Flute]

We can't compare ourselves to India though.

India unfortunately has a lot of places that are quite bad and undeveloped. And possesses natural wastelands with bad economies.

Should not be satisfied with comparing to their state of affairs.

We have a full house population-wise and a much higher proportion of arable productive land. Meaning full capability to utilize population dividend and develop ideal human development potential.

Allah had given us a lot to work with.

Counting that - we have not really done all that well.

Being in a state of underdevelopment or wasteland in not bad at all. It carries a huge potential of development with it. What is bad is spoiled places which unhygienic, dirty and people does not have civic and hygiene sense. I had been to many places economically underdeveloped but if you see that, they are mind boggling clean and beautiful. Tribals have preserved those places like anything, Clean jungles, preserved areas without an iota of plastic, flourishing flora and fauna. Clean rivers, organic farming, vibrant culture, top class hospitality for which people spend millions to have location to live in ambiance like that.

The data available does not confirm your claim of BD being more developed than India. Infact, it is far behind to many nations with much Smallers economy.

 

[Bilal9]

Being in a state of underdevelopment or wasteland in not bad at all. It carries a huge potential of development with it. What is bad is spoiled places which unhygienic, dirty and people does not have civic and hygiene sense. I had been to many places economically underdeveloped but if you see that, they are mind boggling clean and beautiful. Tribals have preserved those places like anything, Clean jungles, preserved areas without an iota of plastic, flourishing flora and fauna. Clean rivers, organic farming, vibrant culture, top class hospitality for which people spend millions to have location to live in ambiance like that.

The data available does not confirm your claim of BD being more developed than India. Infact, it is far behind to many nations with much Smallers economy.

We are all in the same boat development wise.

Things are easier to do in Bangladesh because the scale is much smaller.

 

[Bilal9]

Then why Bangladeshis were not going there prior to they used to come to India for medical treatment. Secondly, do not say that they are more educated than Indian doctors. No other doctors in general are more educated than Indian doctors. Here the syllabus which is taught in Graduation is taught in post-graduation elsewhere. This is true for any other discipline.

Indian doctors get trained in Bangladesh in droves. Then they go back to India for the qualification exams and pass with flying colors. There are many tens of thousands of Indian kids studying MBBS in Bangladesh.

 

[Krishna with Flute]

Indian doctors get trained in Bangladesh in droves. Then they go back to India for the qualification exams and pass with flying colors. There are many tens of thousands of Indian kids studying MBBS in Bangladesh.

All those who does not qualify for any good engineering or medial institute goes abroad for MBBS study. Many of them settles there if country is good. Those who comes back has no reputation and people see and treat them as inferior doctors. Who goes abroad like Ukrein, Russia, China are our rejected maal. Those who are not qualified here shines in other country. That is the difference between our education and education of others. If BD has a level to provide education to Indian students, why BD people come here for even small treatment to India? Recognize the reality. There is no point in arguing when you are on slippery ground.

 

[Bilal9]

All those who does not qualify for any good engineering or medial institute goes abroad for MBBS study. Many of them settles there if country is good. Those who comes back has no reputation and people see and treat them as inferior doctors. Who goes abroad like Ukrein, Russia, China are our rejected maal. Those who are not qualified here shines in other country. That is the difference between our education and education of others. If BD has a level to provide education to Indian students, why BD people come here for even small treatment to India? Recognize the reality. There is no point in arguing when you are on slippery ground.

I don't think higher "talent" of Indian doctors was the draw for Bangladeshis to go to Indian clinics or hospitals. I don't believe for one second that specific Indian doctors are better talented than specific Bangladeshi doctors. It's hilarious logic.

The main driver for that scenario was "economical treatment", medical fees in India are half or in some cases one-third that of Bangladesh. Plain and simple.

If Indians see medical fees in Bangladesh, they will have a heart attack again. Medical treatment in Bangladesh is out of reach for most people in India.

Bangladeshi urban hospitals in first tier cities are no worse equipped than Indian equivalent hospitals. Everyone knows this as well. I speak with my doctor friends all the time. They told me even your AIIMS standards are not anything to write home about - and that supposedly is the best hospital in Delhi of national repute.

 

[Krishna with Flute]

We are all in the same boat development wise.

Things are easier to do in Bangladesh because the scale is much smaller.

We are fifth largest economy and set to become third in couple of years, we are set to become No 2 consumer market in next 5 years, we are fastest growing major economy, we are skilled manpower reservoir, we are hub of pharmaceuticals, we are CEO factory of world, we are fourth most powerful Military power against what from your side? At the most Textiles. Anything else?

 

[Bilal9]

We are fifth largest economy and set to become third in couple of years, we are set to become No 2 consumer market in next 5 years, we are fastest growing major economy, we are skilled manpower reservoir, we are hub of pharmaceuticals, we are CEO factory of world, we are fourth most powerful Military power against what from your side? At the most Textiles. Anything else?

LOL. Boasting about this BS does not work anymore Mr. Modi-ka-chela. 🙂

You are also poorer in income and worse than Bangladesh in GDP per capita with the world's unhealthiest unhygienic and hungriest population. Bottom tier position. Is this something to take pride in ?? We don't.

It is a shame that you have to compare yourself to Bangladesh which used to be bottomless basket, and cannot even compare your economy and GDP to China which is closest to your size.

India Ranks 105th In Global Hunger Index 2024, Labelled As 'Serious'

The Global Hunger Index (GHI), a tool utilized by international humanitarian organizations to measure and track hunger levels.

www.newsx.com

What good is having fourth largest military when people cannot eat or find toilets to poop in?

Think.

Wrong, wronger, wrongest priorities.

Last time Covid happened in India, people were dying by the millions in the streets - they could not even get on an auto, much less find treatment, doctors or vaccines.

How soon we forget.

You can't just ignore basic reality and show one-sided picture of one or two factors or sectors.

Sounds kind of harsh but one has to point these things out when you start to boast.

Being No. 2 consumer market is worthless when divvied up among 1.4 Billion people.

Already there are signs (which Modi media tried so hard to repress) that family incomes and spending are headed for oblivion in India.

We are in a way happy in Bangladesh that India deserves a place of repute globally. After all we are all desis.

But boasting about 2nd, 3rd and 4th place in this or that is a bad Hindutva habit which makes India the laughing stock and subjects of derision in this world, with educated folks.

When you are already at bottom, there is no place to go but up.

The time for this kind of idle boast has come and gone. Everyone knows about what and where India was and is.

Trying to get respect or validation for this or that from non-Indians is a laughable trait.

Those who will respect India by knowing about it (myself included) don't have to be forced to do so.

Brother @Jiangnan how do Chinese people see the boasts our friend which he made above?

 

[Krishna with Flute]

I don't think higher "talent" of Indian doctors was the draw for Bangladeshis to go to Indian clinics or hospitals. I don't believe for one second that specific Indian doctors are better talented than specific Bangladeshi doctors. It's hilarious logic.

The main driver for that scenario was "economical treatment", medical fees in India are half or in some cases one-third that of Bangladesh. Plain and simple.

If Indians see medical fees in Bangladesh, they will have a heart attack again. Medical treatment in Bangladesh is out of reach for most people in India.

Bangladeshi urban hospitals in first tier cities are no worse equipped than Indian equivalent hospitals. Everyone knows this as well.

Thats is what I say. Batter skilled doctors and yet economical treatment. If fact, let me say you that what you and whole world call it a batter treatment in India is infect third class treatment which is outdated. Many incurable diseases are treated in India without operation or any so called modern medicine.

Let me give you some examples. Recently, one of my friend was hospitalized and was in the condition of multi organ failure. His heart pumping was very low, liver was not functioning well, kidney was not function well and creatinine level was above 7 and he was on dialysis. He was admitted to one of the top hospital of Vadodara.

On advice of some friend, his brother took him to an Ayurvedic hospital in small city of Nadiad. With Naturopathic treatment and ayurvedic treatment, his health started improving. He is discharged from that hospital and till date no dialysis is required. When I went to see him in Nadiad (A town of Gujarat), I was amazed to see that whole first floor of hospital was booked by Germans. They had come in group and had booked all personal rooms. Only shared rooms were available for others patients. In the places like Patanjali, heart, diabetes and cancer patients are treated successfully in a fraction of cost.

In our regular medial check up of company, my sugar level was reported high. I went to an Ayurvedic doctor in Amadavad. He gave me medicine. Its charge was Rs 400 per month. I took it for 4 to 5 months. Never subsequent to that, my sugar has come high in any report.

In 2019 October in a medical check up in my company, my heart pumping found to be only 20 to 25%. I got it checked twice. Doctor adviced me to get Angiography done on urgent basis. I did not do that and went to an Ayurvedic doctor in Gandhinagar. My heart pumping improved by 10% in just one month. However, in corona times, i could not go to see doctor and it again went down to 20 to 25%. Subsequent to that, one of my friends advised me to do a Pranayam (Kumbhak) course. I did that. Withing 6 months, it improved to 45 % and in last medical check up, it rose to 62%. This sort of therapies are available in India.

One of my friend had slip disk issue and he was hospitalized for 5 days. he was advised operation. I took to a tribal guy in Dang. He pressed his spine and cure him in few seconds. These sorts of therapies are available in India against which most modern therapies of world sucks. You are not aware of India's medical treatments. Some incurable diseases like cancer and paralysis are treated in remote tribal areas of India at a fraction of cost. You have no idea of India's potential in Medical sector. What you consider is just an outdated so called moder medical treatment.

 

[Krishna with Flute]

LOL. Boasting about this BS does not work anymore Mr. Modi-ka-chela. 🙂

You are also poorer in income and worse than Bangladesh in GDP per capita with the world's unhealthiest unhygienic and hungriest population. Bottom tier position. Is this something to take pride in ?? We don't.

It is a shame that you have to compare yourself to Bangladesh which used to be bottomless basket, and cannot even compare your economy and GDP to China.

India Ranks 105th In Global Hunger Index 2024, Labelled As 'Serious'

The Global Hunger Index (GHI), a tool utilized by international humanitarian organizations to measure and track hunger levels.

www.newsx.com

What good is having fourth largest military when people cannot eat or find toilets to poop in?

Think.

Wrong, wronger, wrongest priorities.

You can't just ignore basic reality and show one-sided picture of one or two factors or sectors.

Sounds kind of harsh but one has to point these things out when you start to boast.

Being No. 2 consumer market is worthless when divvied up among 1.4 Billion people.

Already there are signs (which Modi media tried so hard to repress) that family incomes and spending are headed for oblivion in India.

We are in a way happy in Bangladesh that India deserves a place of repute globally. After all we are all desis.

But boasting about 2nd, 3rd and 4th place in this or that is a bad Hindutva habit which makes India the laughing stock and subjects of derision in this world, with educated folks.

The time for this kind of idle boast has come and gone. Everyone knows about what and where India was and is.

Trying to get respect or validation for this or that from non-Indians is a laughable trait.

Those who will respect India don't have to be forced to do so.

Boasting is something which when you import rice from a country and call that that country faces hunger poverty. Let me post herewith the report of most reliable source of economic condition. That is none other than IMF. read here and decide whether I am boasting or you are boasting.

India has almost wiped out extreme poverty: International Monetary Fund​

ByZia Haq
Apr 07, 2022 05:40 PM IST

In India, the number of people living in extreme poverty -- defined by the World Bank as living on US$1.9 or less in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms -- was 0.8% of the population in the pre-pandemic year 2019, stated the IMF paper, published on April 5, 2022.​

New Delhi: India has almost eradicated extreme poverty and brought down consumption inequality to its lowest levels in 40 years through state-provided food handouts, according to a new working paper published by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

India has almost wiped out extreme poverty, says IMF(REUTERS)


The IMF working paper -- authored by economists Surjit Bhalla, Arvind Virmani and Karan Bhasin -- said that the proportion of people living in extreme poverty, at less than 1%, remained steady even during the pandemic on the back of “in-kind” subsidies, especially food rations.

The study comes at a time when several recent global reports have pointed to the widening gap between the rich and poor in Asia’s third-largest economy, while studies on the economic shocks of the Covid-19 pandemic vary in their conclusions.

In India, the number of people living in extreme poverty -- defined by the World Bank as living on US$1.9 or less in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms -- was 0.8% of the population in the pre-pandemic year 2019, stated the IMF paper, published on April 5, 2022.


Food rations were “instrumental” in ensuring that extreme poverty did not increase and “remained at that low level” in the pandemic year 2020, the study found. PPP is a metric that equalises the buying power of different currencies to make comparisons easy.


“Our results also demonstrate the social safety net provided by the expansion of India’s food subsidy program absorbed a major part of the pandemic shock,” the authors stated. Such back-to-back low poverty rates suggest India has eliminated extreme poverty, they concluded.

Also read: Pakistan in turmoil, IMF's $6 billion bailout programme on hold

What sets their study apart, according to the authors, is the effect of subsidy adjustments on poverty. The results are “striking”, they said in the working paper. Food handouts curbed poverty by acting like “cash transfers”.

IMF states that its working papers describe research in progress, and are published to elicit comments.

Real (inflation-adjusted) inequality, as measured by the Gini coefficient, which stands at 0.294, is now very close to its lowest level 0.284 observed in 1993-94, the paper stated. The Gini coefficient ranges from 0 to 1, with 0 representing perfect equality and 1 representing perfect inequality.


“The food subsidy is 5kg per person. In terms of a household, that would be about 25 kg a month. Now if you convert that into prices, that would come to about ₹750. This is not an insignificant amount for really poor households,” said Pronab Sen, former chief statistician of India.

“But I cannot imagine ₹750 changing the inequality part of it. Absolute poverty in terms of hunger…yes, but inequality is a different ballgame. ₹750 is just not enough to move the needle on inequality,” Sen added.

Also read: Why IMF praised PM Modi’s food security scheme during pandemic

Most previous studies and measures of poverty and inequality did not account for the role of food handouts, the paper’s authors noted. “These (new) estimates include, for the first time, the effect of in-kind food subsides on poverty and inequality,” the paper stated.


During the first Covid-19 lockdown in 2020, the Modi government launched the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana (PMGKAY), a programme to distribute a fixed quantity of free foodgrain (5kg per head) to the poor beyond their usual entitlement of 25kg a month of subsidised grains.

Over 800 million beneficiaries under the National Food Security Act are covered by the programme. Last week, the government said it would extend the PMGKAY till September 2022.

A National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) working paper in December last year, too, showed that inequality surprisingly reduced during the pandemic, mainly because incomes of the rich from the services sector had plunged, while farm-sector output was resilient. However, this paper found a spike in extreme poverty during the pandemic.


When India’s economy saw its worst-ever recession of -6.6% in 2020-21, the farm sector grew 3.3%, according to revised official estimates.

The World Inequality Report, released in December last year, said India emerged as the most unequal country with the top 1% of the population holding more than one-fifth of the total national income in 2021.

The richest Indians more than doubled their wealth during the Covid-19 crisis, according to the global Oxfam Davos Report of 2022.

Yet another study by the International food Policy Research Institute scholar Yanyan Liu in 2019 found that the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme, acting as a conditional cash transfer, had increased welfare and reduced inequality.

Bhalla, one of the authors of the IMF paper, said, “Given that extreme poverty has been eradicated, India should move from $1.9 PPP poverty line to $3.2 poverty line”. This essentially means setting the poverty line high and is significant because it raises the income threshold for determining those below poverty line, and such a move would allow more people to qualify for subsidies.


“Bhalla’s method of using National Accounts Statistics numbers to estimate poverty is not new and he had declared poverty to have become insignificant in India 20 years ago,” said Jawaharlal Nehru University economist Himanshu.

Most economists do not agree with his method, Himanshu said, adding: “That is why we need another round of consumer expenditure survey to ascertain exact trends in poverty and inequality in India.”

https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/india-has-almost-wiped-out-extreme-poverty-imf-101649311909782.html

 

[Krishna with Flute]

Why IMF praised PM Modi’s food security scheme during pandemic​

videos
Published on Apr 06, 2022 03:06 PM IST

A new study by International Monetary Fund has praised the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana for keeping extreme poverty levels in check during the pandemic. The latest IMF paper, published on 5 April 2020, found that extreme poverty (less than PPP USD 1.9 per person per day) in India is less than 1 per cent in 2019 and it remained at that level even during the COVID-19 pandemic year 2020. "Prime Minister Narendra Modi's food security scheme has been critical in preventing any increase in extreme poverty levels in India during the COVID-19 pandemic." the report added. Watch this video for more details.​

 

[Saif]

Touhid likely to meet Jaishankar in Oman

Bangladesh Foreign Adviser Touhid Hossain and Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar may meet in Oman, on the sidelines of the Indian Ocean Conference slated for February 16-17.

www.thedailystar.net

Touhid likely to meet Jaishankar in Oman

Bangladesh Foreign Adviser Touhid Hossain and Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar may meet in Oman, on the sidelines of the Indian Ocean Conference slated for February 16-17.

This would be the second foreign minister-level meeting between the two. The first one was held in New York on the sidelines of UN General Assembly in September last year.

The New Delhi-based think tank, India Foundation, is organising the Indian Ocean Conference that has emerged as the flagship consultative forum for countries in the region over regional affairs.

The meeting between Touhid and Jaishankar in Oman could help ease the Indo-Bangla relations that remained strained since deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina fled to India on August 5 amid a mass uprising, said diplomatic sources.

"The meeting will be an occasion to ease the relations," a diplomatic source in Dhaka told The Daily Star last night.

After the political changeover in Bangladesh, India on several occasions complained of repression against minorities, especially the Hindus. Bangladesh has repeatedly said the accusations were inflated, and majority of the attacks were political in nature, not religious.

Dhaka has complained of misinformation about Bangladesh in the Indian media and protested the statements of Hasina via social media, saying that those statements were inciting instability in Bangladesh.

There was also tension over India installing border fences within the 150 yards of the international borders at several places along the Bangladesh-India border.

After the demolition of Bangabandhu Memorial Museum in Dhanmondi 32, Bangladesh foreign ministry summoned Pawan Badhe, the Indian deputy high commissioner in Dhaka, to lodge a strong protest against Hasina's statements.

On February 7, Indian Ministry of External Affairs also summoned Bangladesh's Deputy High Commissioner Nural Islam.

Dhaka on February 9 termed India's condemnation of the incidents in Dhaka "unwarranted and unexpected".

"In the meeting in Oman, both the leaders may share their concerns and try to normalise the relationship," said a foreign ministry official.​

 

[Saif]

Foreign adviser likely to meet Jaishankar in Oman

Foreign Affairs Adviser Md Touhid Hossain will attend the 8th Indian Ocean Conference to be held in Muscat, Oman, on February 16-17 with the theme "Voyages to New Horizons of Maritime Partnership." Indian External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar will also attend the conference, raising hope fo

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Foreign adviser likely to meet Jaishankar in Oman
UNB
Published :
Feb 12, 2025 22:57
Updated :
Feb 12, 2025 22:57
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Foreign Affairs Adviser Md Touhid Hossain will attend the 8th Indian Ocean Conference to be held in Muscat, Oman, on February 16-17 with the theme "Voyages to New Horizons of Maritime Partnership."

Indian External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar will also attend the conference, raising hope for a bilateral meeting between Hossain and Jaishankar on the sidelines.

If it happens, this will be their second meeting since the formation of the interim government led by Prof Muhammad Yunus in August last year.

Hossain and Jaishankar had their first meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York in September last year.

The 8th Indian Ocean Conference is being organised by India Foundation in association with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Oman.

The Indian Ocean Conference was started by India Foundation in 2016 in Singapore, with participation from 30 countries.

In the last 8 years, the conference has emerged as the flagship consultative forum for countries in the region over regional affairs.

The conference endeavours to bring critical states and principal maritime partners of the region together on a common platform to deliberate upon the prospects of regional cooperation for Security and Growth for All in the Region (SAGAR).

Foreign Adviser Hossain left Dhaka for Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Wednesday evening, said a senior official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

He is scheduled to go to Muscat, Oman from Dubai on February 14, the official said.

The adviser is scheduled to return home on February 18 after attending the Indian Ocean Conference.

In Muscat, President of the India Foundation Ram Madhav on Wednesday said the conference brings together the countries of the Indian Ocean region. "It has become a calendar event, not only in the region but the entire world.”

Oman Foreign Minister Badr bin Hamad Al Busaidi (host) along with foreign ministers of Australia Penny Wong, Bahrain Abdullatif Bin Rashid, Bhutan DN Dhungyel, Iran Abbas Araghchi, Maldives FM Abdulla Khaleel, Mauritius D Ramful, Nepal Arzu Rana Deuba, Sri Lanka Vijitha Herath, Seychelles Errol Fonseka, Eritrea FM Osman Saleh, will be present in Muscat.

Around 27 foreign ministers will be attending the gathering, with delegations from 45 countries in attendance.

The conference aligns with Oman’s Vision 2040, which focuses on economic diversification, environmental sustainability, and promoting renewable energy.​

 

[Saif]

Touhid, Jaishankar for working on bilateral challenges

Border-related issues to be discussed, resolved during BGB-BSF talks in Delhi

www.thedailystar.net

Touhid, Jaishankar for working on bilateral challenges
Border-related issues to be discussed, resolved during BGB-BSF talks in Delhi

Photo: Collected

Foreign Adviser Touhid Hossain and Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar today acknowledged the challenges facing bilateral relations and stressed the need for joint efforts to address them.

The discussion took place during a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the 8th Indian Ocean Conference (IOC) in Muscat, Oman, according to a press release issued by the Bangladesh Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

"Both sides recognised the challenges the two neighbours are facing in terms of bilateral relations and discussed the necessity to work together to address those," it said.

During the meeting, Touhid underscored the importance of initiating discussions for the renewal of the Ganga Water Sharing Treaty.

He also emphasised the need for convening the SAARC Standing Committee meeting and requested India's support.

Both sides expressed optimism that various border-related issues would be addressed during the upcoming meeting at the director-general level of the border forces of the two countries, scheduled to be held in New Delhi from February 18 to 20.

The two leaders also exchanged views on other bilateral issues of mutual interest and concern.

Reflecting on their last meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in September 2024, they noted that since then, the two nations have engaged in multiple bilateral dialogues, including the Foreign Office Consultations (FOC) at the Foreign Secretary level in Dhaka on December 9.

Besides, they also recalled the Bangladesh energy adviser's participation in the India Energy Week events in New Delhi on February 10-11.

Touhid also held meetings with the Second Minister of Foreign Affairs of Brunei, the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam, and the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Tanzania on the sidelines of the IOC.

He is scheduled to meet the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Oman on Monday.​