Bangladesh to Import Defence Items from India Under $500-Million LoC

On 16th December, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said that Bangladesh would soon import defense-related commodities from India under the US$ 500 million Line of Credit offered by New Delhi, as certain identified items are being fast tracked.

President Ram Nath Kovind, who is in Bangladesh on his first state visit at the request of his counterpart M Abdul Hamid to attend the golden jubilee celebrations of Bangladesh’s independence from Pakistan in 1971, met with the country’s top leadership on Wednesday.

President Ram Nath Kovind received Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, and the two leaders discussed a number of matters of mutual interest and bilateral cooperation. They discussed how far their complex and comprehensive bilateral ties have progressed.

“As far as we are concerned,” Shringla remarked at a press conference here on Wednesday night, “India and Bangladesh are united by ties of history, language, spirituality, and culture.”

During President Kovind’s conversations with Bangladesh’s highest leadership, he added, the defence problem was discussed.

“I believe the problem of Bangladeshi imports of defense-related commodities is one that we have signed, and we have extended the line of credit for defence items for US$ 500 million, as you are aware.”

Several goods have been identified and are being fast expedited under this line of credit; they’re in a reasonably advanced level of processing. “We will see certain defence products exported from India to Bangladesh, which is something we would like to see,” said the foreign secretary.

“Essentially the entire gamut of collaboration, whether it is training, exchanges, or collaborative manufacture in the defence industry,” Sringla added, “we would like to see strengthened.”

In 2019, India offered Bangladesh a US$ 500 million line of credit for defence acquisition in the neighbouring country.

On April 11, the Export Import Bank of India (Exim Bank) signed an agreement with Bangladesh’s Armed Forces Division to make a US$ 500 million line of credit (LOC) accessible to the latter.

The Memorandum of Understanding is for the aim of financing defence acquisition in Bangladesh.

During Prime Minister Hasina’s visit to New Delhi in April 2017, India pledged a US$ 500 million Line of Credit for Bangladesh’s defence.

President Ram Nath Kovind told the top leadership in Bangladesh on Wednesday that Bangladesh has a “special place” in India’s “Neighbourhood First” policy, and that the bilateral relationship, which is based on sovereignty, equality, trust, and understanding, is mature enough to deal with the “most complex of problems.”