Tri-nation railway container not now, says foreign secy
The scheduled trial run of a tri-nation railway container among Bangladesh, India and Nepal will not be possible until the upgradation of Bangabandhu bridge or an alternative to it, foreign secretary Mohamed Mijarul Quayes said here on Tuesday night.
“The scheduled trial run of a railway container has been caught in technical glitch. We have to wait for the trial run of railway container up to the upgradation of the Bangabandhu bridge or there is an alternative to it,” he told journalists at Equatorial Convention Centre, the official venue for 17th Saarc summit.
The trial was a part of the Saarc endeavour to see the possibilities of resuming train connectivity among the member states. Similar trial run between Lahore of Pakistan and New Delhi of India has also been on the agenda, diplomatic sources said.
Asked about any other issues that could be discussed between Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh during the Saarc summit, Mijarul said bilateral issues that have not been resolved during Singh's visit to Dhaka in last September would be discussed at the meeting. Besides, the new issues, which are beneficial to both, might come up for discussion, he added.
The issues, such as the Teesta and Feni river water sharing, regional connectivity, transit and transshipment, power purchase, port utilisation and energy cooperation are likely to dominate the bilateral discussion scheduled for today, the day of official inauguration of 17th Saarc summit. He said Hasina might also discuss some of the economic issues that Singh has recently encountered at the G-20 summit.
Head of the government or states of eight countries of South Asia, including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, will meet at the Saarc summit in Addu City.
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