Border talks between India, B'desh to begin next week in Delhi

India and Bangladesh will hold their bi-annual border dialogue here next week with a delegation of Dhaka's border guarding force arriving tomorrow in the country.
A 22-member team of the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), led by their chief Maj Gen Aziz Ahmed, will sit across the table with their Indian counterparts -- the Border Security Force -- and discuss a host of security issues related to the 4,096 km long border the two countries share.
While the BGB delegation will arrive tomorrow in India, the talks will begin from October 3, a BSF spokesperson said.
During the conference, issues related to trans-border crimes, smuggling of cattle, fake Indian currency notes, drugs and prevention of illegal migration will be discussed between the two sides, the spokesperson said.

A senior official said issues related to activities of Indian insurgent groups in Bangladesh and initiation of new confidence building measures will also be discussed during the talks.
The Indian delegation will be led by BSF Director General K K Sharma and comprised officials from the Ministry of External Affairs, Narcotics Control Bureau and the NIA.

The two sides will sign a joint record of discussions on October 4 and the BGB delegation will leave for Dhaka the next day.
This is the 43rd meeting between the two sides and the last talks happened when the Indian delegation led by BSF had travelled to Bangladesh in May this year.

Since 1975, these talks between BSF and BGB used to be held annually but they were made bi-annual from 1993.