HS level talks: India, Bangladesh agree to step up border management co-operation

Tribune News Service
New Delhi, February 27

India and Bangladesh held the 19th Home Secretary-level Talks (HSLT) on Saturday, as the two sides agreed to step up the level of cooperation between the forces and agencies in preventing the smuggling of Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN), contraband, and human trafficking across borders.

Significantly, the meeting was held ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Bangladesh scheduled next month and also in the backdrop of “MujibBarsho”, 50 years of Bangladesh Liberation War and the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries.

The Indian delegation, which was led by Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla, held interactions in the virtual mode with the team of senior Bangladeshi officials led by Mostafa Kamal Uddin, Senior Secretary, Public Security Division of that country’s Ministry of Home Affairs, the government said in an official release.     

“Both sides discussed early completion of pending fencing along the Indo-Bangladesh Border (IBB) as agreed by the prime ministers of the two countries,” said the MHA in the release. It went on to add that both sides appreciated the cooperation between the two countries and the action taken to address “the menace of terrorism and extremism in an effective manner”.

 “The effective functioning of the Coordinated Border Management Plan (CBMP) to control the illegal cross border activities was appreciated by both sides. Both sides also agreed to further enhance the level of cooperation to prevent the smuggling of FICN, contraband and human trafficking,” the MHA release noted.