India ready to help Bangladesh with its defence modernisation efforts: Envoy

Dhaka, Mar 6 (PTI) India is ready to help Bangladesh with its defence modernisation efforts and has identified defence industry cooperation with Dhaka as an emerging focus area of the bilateral partnership, including joint development and production, India’s envoy here has said.

The Indian High Commission here on Sunday organised a seminar here on Indian defence equipment to promote defence industry cooperation between India and Bangladesh.

Speaking at the event, Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Pranay Verma identified defence industry cooperation between the two countries as an emerging focus area of their defence partnership, a press release by the High Commission said.

Verma highlighted the accomplishments of Indian’s defence industry over the last decade driven by the “Make in India, Make for the World” vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The High Commissioner invited Bangladesh Armed Forces to benefit from India’s cost-effective, high-quality defence equipment and technology and proposed joint development and production.

He expressed Delhi’s readiness to partner with Dhaka in its defence modernisation through the USD 500 million Defence Line of Credit extended by the Indian government to the Bangladeshi government and urged the defence industry on both sides to take full advantage of this arrangement.

Chief of General Staff (CGS) of the Bangladesh Army, Lt. Gen. Ata-ul Hakim Sarwar Hasan, attended the event and made keynote remarks along with Verma.

Hasan also praised India’s defence manufacturing capabilities and proposed cooperation between the two sides for a closer defence industry partnership, the press release said.

Several key Indian defence manufacturers, from the public and the private sectors, participated and presented their defence products and platforms.

Representatives from Bangladesh Armed Forces, paramilitary forces, and law enforcement agencies also attended the seminar.

India and Bangladesh have a close and friendly defence relationship that covers diverse areas of cooperation and is guided by the spirit of their shared sacrifices during the Liberation War of 1971, the press release said.