Any discussion on renewing the historic Ganges water sharing treaty between Bangladesh and India will be conducted within the existing institutional framework, the Joint Rivers Commission, India’s Ministry of External Affairs has said.
The ministry’s spokesman, Randhir Jaiswal, said this at its regular media briefing in reply to journalists’ questions about unresolved water issues and bilateral trade with Bangladesh.
On the Ganges treaty, the spokesman said any matter relating to rivers and water resources is settled under the Joint Rivers Commission, where the concerns of both sides are reviewed at the technical level.
Meanwhile, a meeting of the Bangladesh-India Joint Working Group (JWG) on trade has begun in New Delhi after a break of about three years. The joint secretary-level meeting discussed in detail the two countries’ bilateral trade agenda, the removal of various existing trade barriers and ways of keeping border trade normal.
The 30-year Ganges water sharing treaty, signed in 1996, is about to expire. Diplomatic and technical efforts are continuing on both sides to reach an honourable and lasting solution before it does. Diplomatic analysts see the resumption of the trade working group’s talks in the meantime as positive progress in bilateral relations.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report