India-Bangladesh bi-annual border talks from Friday

The Director General (DG) -level bi-annual border dialogue between India and Bangladesh will start here on Friday to discuss issues like trans-border crimes, activities of Indian insurgent groups based in Bangladesh and prevention of illegal migration.

A 22-member Bangladeshi delegation led by Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) DG Major General Aziz Ahmed will visit Delhi on September 30 for the six-day talks with a 25-member Indian delegation led by Border Security Force (BSF) chief K.K. Sharma.

The meeting is scheduled between September 30 and October 5.

The last BSF-BGB border co-ordination conference was held in May this year in Dhaka. This is the 43rd such meeting between the chiefs of BSF and BGB.

The first session of the Border coordination conference between the BSF and BGB will be held on October 3 at BSF headquarters while the concluding session and signing of Joint Record of Discussion (JRD) between the chiefs of the two border guarding forces will commence on October 4.

During the conference, senior officers of BSF, Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of External Affairs, some law enforcement agencies, National Investigation Agency (NIA) and other sister agencies are going to take part in bi-lateral talks.

The conference is being organised to discuss the border related issues and for better coordination between the both border guarding forces.

Issues of trans-border crimes, smuggling of cattle, Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN) and drugs will be raised in the meeting.

Activities of Indian insurgent groups based in Bangladesh, prevention of illegal migration, joint efforts for effective implementation of Co-ordinated Border Management Plan (CBMP) and confidence building measures will also be the part of discussion.

A special friendly volleyball match between the teams of BSF and BGB will also be played at Thyagaraj Sports Complex on October 3.

"The Joint India-Bangladesh guidelines for Border Authorities 1975 envisage that there should be frequent contacts between the border authorities of two countries concerned to discuss the matter of immediate administrative concern," a BSF official said.

The officer said during a discussions between the home secretaries of India and Bangladesh held at Dhaka from October 7 to 9, 1993, it was agreed that a DG level meetings between BSF and BGB are to be a bi-annual event.

As per practice, the talks with BGB are held for a duration of six days.

--IANS

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