New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a bilateral meeting with his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina on Friday, a day before the start of the G20 Leaders Summit in Delhi. Bangladesh is invited as a guest to the summit to be held at Bharat Mandapam in Delhi on 9-10 September.

During the bilateral meeting, the two leaders discussed various areas of cooperation, including political and security cooperation, border management, trade and connectivity, and water resources. They also participated in discussions on electricity and energy-related initiatives, development cooperation as well as cultural relations and people-to-people exchanges.

Three Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) aimed at enhancing bilateral cooperation were also exchanged during the meeting between Prime Minister Modi and Sheikh Hasina. The three Memorandums of Understanding include one between the Indian Agricultural Research Council (ICAR) and the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC), the second on cooperation in digital payment mechanisms between China and India. National Settlement Consortium of India (NPCI) and Bangladesh Bank, and a third Memorandum of Understanding on the renewal of the Cultural Exchange Program (CEP) between the two countries for the period 2023-2025.

Regarding the regional situation, Prime Minister Modi expressed his appreciation of the burden that Bangladesh bears in supporting the more than one million displaced people from Myanmar’s Rakhine state, and conveyed a constructive approach.

India is constructive and active in supporting safe and sustainable repatriation solutions for refugees. The Indian side welcomed the Indo-Pacific outlook recently announced by Bangladesh.

The leaders agreed to continue working together to increase broad participation. Prime Minister Hasina thanked Prime Minister Modi for the hospitality of the government and people of India, and both leaders looked forward to continued interaction at all levels.