New Delhi [India], October 6 (ANI): Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri on Monday underlined India's pragmatic and forward-looking approach towards Bangladesh, stressing that New Delhi seeks to strengthen relations based on mutual respect, stability, and people-centric development while continuing to support democratic processes in the neighbouring country.

'I want to be very, very clear on this one matter. If there is any doubt in anybody's mind, India is firmly in favour of free, fair, inclusive, and participatory elections in Bangladesh. And it is in favour of these elections being held at the earliest possible time,' Misri said.

He said, 'We are encouraged by the fact that Bangladesh authorities themselves have spoken about the time frame for these elections. And we would look forward to these elections taking place. As I said, we hope that they are held without any delay.'

'And also that we are looking forward to engaging with any government that emerges as a result of these elections. It will be a government, obviously, that will be elected with a popular mandate. And we will work with whichever government the people of Bangladesh choose to represent them,' he said.

Reiterating that India's engagement with Bangladesh is guided by realism and adaptability, Misri said, 'I also want to state that the approach that we have adopted has also been a pragmatic approach. We are no strangers to the momentous changes that have taken place in the region, in the world, and in Bangladesh as well.'

He continued, 'But our pragmatic approach has driven our engagement, which has remained with the authorities in Bangladesh, the interim government in Bangladesh. The only point I would make is that for this to be sustained and become the basis for even better relations in the future, we all need, on both sides, to work on a facilitating environment. And what I mean by that is that it is important in this context to avoid statements or actions that vitiate the atmosphere.'

Emphasising India's continued outreach and high-level engagement, the Foreign Secretary said, 'On our side, I would like to point to some of the efforts that we have made. The Prime Minister was, I think, among the first, if not the first, major world leader to welcome Professor Muhammad Yunus when he took over as Chief Advisor of the Interim Government in Bangladesh. He invited him to participate in the Voice of Global South Summit, and we were very glad that Professor Muhammad Yunus did so.'

He added, 'I undertook a visit to Bangladesh. Some of you may have seen that or reported on that. I felt that it was a very useful visit and provided the opportunity to clarify many issues in the situation at that point in time.'

Detailing the strength of bilateral cooperation, Misri said, 'And, of course, we have continued with working-level meetings between the two sides on several issues, whether it is to deal with the borders, to deal with the rivers, to deal with trade, or to deal with our bilateral developmental cooperation. As you know, Bangladesh is possibly our largest partner when it comes to concessional finance-related arrangements. So, all of these engagements have contributed.'

Highlighting the global focus on Bangladesh's upcoming elections, Misri noted, 'The one issue which, obviously, is important and is being watched, not just in the region but globally as well, is the next steps in the internal situation in Bangladesh. We have all seen, for instance, the announcements and the statements that have been made with regard to the next elections in Bangladesh. I understand that a time frame for February has been indicated in this regard.'

Reaffirming India's commitment to regional stability and shared progress, the Foreign Secretary said, 'An associated point is that I think if you take a look at the geography of the region as well as our history, it should be clear that we in India have a stake, a very important stake, in peace, progress, stability, and development in Bangladesh. All of these issues are related to regional stability, and obviously, we have a stake in regional stability.'

He added, 'We attach the highest importance to it, not just for ourselves but because it is also in our mutual benefit. Just a few words about the economic partnership, the commercial partnership between our two countries. It is a partnership that is mutually beneficial.'

Underscoring the momentum of economic cooperation, Misri said, 'We are working to continue to expand it. And I think we have made very good progress over several years. And it would be a pity to let the gains of this progress be frittered away on account of what I feel are transient issues at the present moment.'

'There may be some different approaches that are being taken in the present phase. I hope that we can look beyond these. And when I say that we would like to look beyond these, what I mean is that we should try and set a future-oriented perspective for this relationship,' he said.

'Rather than look at it from the lenses of the past. The world is changing very, very fast. Its impact in the region is being felt. New models and new templates of cooperation are being talked about. The India-Bangladesh relationship offers a possibility of an extremely fruitful and mutually beneficial relationship. It has been so in the past,' he added.

'There is no reason why it cannot be even more so in the future. So, I think we need to look at a forward-oriented agenda and narrative for our relationship. And once again, I emphasise that it is not only mutually beneficial but also people-centric,' Misri said.

He noted that economic linkages and connectivity must remain at the heart of the partnership. 'People must be at the centre of all of our activities and initiatives. And therefore, we should look at greater and more intense economic linkages and connectivity, whether that is physical, financial, commercial, technical, or energy-related,' he said.

'We already have advances and initiatives in these areas. We should deepen these. We should look at new areas such as startups and technology, which are changing the face of geopolitics and geoeconomics as we speak,' he added.

Expanding on areas of collaboration, Misri said, 'Areas such as energy, such as healthcare. These are all areas in which we should intensify our cooperation. I referred a short while back to our initiatives in the area of undertaking concessional finance projects in Bangladesh.'

'This is something that is ongoing. It has not been impacted negatively by everything that has happened in the recent past. And our development cooperation projects have continued to make progress in the months since the events of last year,' he added.

He said that bilateral trade continues to serve as a pillar of strength. 'Commercially also, this is a very fruitful and mutually beneficial relationship. We are the largest importers of Bangladeshi goods in Asia, and we are willing to increase it. We have seen and paid attention to statements that have been made by important figures in Bangladesh about the need to have equal and fair arrangements,' Misri said.

'We are in favour of such arrangements, and we would look to crafting equal and fair trade arrangements as we move forward. I think next year, I think it is in 2026 possibly, when Bangladesh will graduate from the LDC status. And I think that is an opportunity when we can look at a more modern and fair and equal trading relationship between the two countries,' he said.

Recognising the depth of India-Bangladesh ties, Misri said, 'I feel that there are, of course, in a relationship as close as ours, where we are two countries that share a border of over 4,000 kilometres, there will be issues, and there is no denying that there are issues on the table. But the only point I would make is that we should try and find pragmatic, practical, and workable solutions for these issues.'

'And there must not be an attempt to shift blame because we are overwhelmed by a problem or an issue, and we are not immediately able to find a solution. I think the answer to that is to double down and try and find solutions. And it is not as if solutions are not available. In fact, there are solutions on the table, but what it will take is for us to shed the models and templates of the past and look to the future of our relationship,' Misri said.

Addressing concerns raised over border-related incidents, he added, 'One area, for instance, I know that our friends in Bangladesh have a lot of concerns about incidents that take place at the border. We also are concerned by these incidents, primarily because the entirety of these incidents takes place on the Indian side of the border. So this is just one example where, as a result of the discussions that are held, there are solutions that have been put on the table,' he said. (ANI)