Translation of Prime Minister's speech on the inauguration of three projects via video conferencing in Bangladesh (September 10, 2018)

September 11, 2018

Your Excellency, Sheikh Hasina, Prime Minister of Bangladesh,
Mamata Banerjee Ji, Chief Minister of West Bengal, 
Biplab Kumar Deb Ji, Chief Minister of Tripura, 

Few days back I had met Sheikh Hasina at the BIMSTEC Summit in Kathmandu. And prior to that we had met at Shantiniketan in May and during Commonwealth Summit at London in April.

And I am glad that today I am again meeting you through video conferencing. 

I have said this many times earlier also that our relations with leaders of neighboring countries should be just like our relations with our neighbors. Whenever it feels like we can talk to them or visit them. We should not be restricted by the constraints of protocol in such matters. And this closeness is clearly visible in my contact with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Ji. Apart from several meetings this is our fourth video conference, and there will be another such video conference in the near future also.

The biggest advantage of these video conferences is that the launch or inauguration of any projects of cooperation between the two countries is not dependent on some VIP visit.

Excellency,

Whenever we talk about connectivity, your vision of restoring the connectivity prior to 1965 always comes to my mind. And it is a thing of great pleasure for me that we have been taking steps in that direction only.

Today we have increased our power connectivity, and we have started two projects to further deepen our railway connectivity.

When I visited Bangladesh in 2015, we decided to supply 500 megawatt of additional power to Bangladesh. And for this, the transmission link to Bangladesh from West Bengal is being used. I congratulate Chief Minister Ms. Mamata Banerjee for her support in completing this work. 

With the completion of this project now 1.6 gigawatt power is being supplied to Bangladesh from India. I believe this quantum jump from megawatt to gigawatt represents golden chapter in our relations.

Our connectivity in railways is also increasing. Internal connectivity of Bangladesh and its connectivity with India are two important components of our cooperation in this sector.

Once the connectivity of Akhora-Agartala is completed, it will add another link to our cross-border connectivity. I congratulate Chief Minister Mr. Biplab Kumar Deb for his cooperation in this project.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Ji has set ambitious targets for the development of Bangladesh – supporting her vision of making Bangladesh a middle income country by 2021 and a developed country by 2041 is a matter of great pride for us.

I have full faith that as we enhance our relations and strengthen people to people relations, we will scale new skies of growth and prosperity.

For their cooperation in this work and attending this program today, I express my heartfelt gratitude to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, and the Chief Ministers of West Bengal and Tripura.

Thank you.

Disclaimer: PM’s Speech was delivered in Hindi. This is an approximate translation of Speech.