New Delhi, September 4
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh leaves on Tuesday for a much-awaited visit to Bangladesh during which the two countries are expected to sign a clutch of agreements to add a new dimension to bilateral ties.

The importance of the two-day visit can be gauged from the fact that Manmohan Singh will be accompanied by Chief Ministers of four states (West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee was part of the trip but she pulled out at the last minute), Union ministers and top officials. It’s the first bilateral visit to Bangladesh by an Indian PM in the last 12 years. Chief Ministers of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram would be in the PM’s entourage, official sources said.

Expected to be signed during the visit is an agreement on demarcating the 4,095- km India-Bangladesh border, to resolve long-pending differences. India is likely to hand over 111 enclaves to Bangladesh and in return get 51 enclaves.

Also likely to be inked are accords for resolving differences on sharing of the waters of the Teesta and Feni rivers.

The growing trade deficit between India and Bangladesh will also be addressed during the trip.

National Security Adviser Shiv Shankar Menon was in Dhaka earlier this week and had meetings with senior Bangladeshi officials to give final touches to the agreements to be inked between the two sides.

Menon is understood to have assured Bangladeshi leaders that there was nothing to be worried about the water sharing formula and the agreement on sharing the waters of the Teesta.

The visit comes at a time when India is jostling with China for resources and influence in Bangladesh. India’s overtures towards Bangladesh have in recent years been dwarfed by Bangladesh’s flourishing friendship with its main trading partner, China, a big weapons supplier that is also helping build ports in the riverine nation.

A fast-growing economy, India too is keen to win energy supplies and influence with its neighbours.

New Delhi’s relations with Bangladesh have warmed in the past two years, thanks to Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s clampdown on insurgents in the North-East who had for long been sheltered across the shared border.

India reciprocated in January last year with a one billion dollar Line of Credit (LoC) for infrastructure development and promises to drop trade barriers when Hasina visited New Delhi. However, the two countries have still not finalised the projects on which the LoC is to be utilised.