Dhaka to resume talks on tri-nation gas link with Myanmar, India

Dhaka: In a series of positive gestures, all designed to give India-Bangladesh bilateral relations a forward momentum it has so desperately been lacking all these decades, Dhaka has announced it will resume negotiations with New Delhi over a long standing proposal for a pipeline across its territory that would take natural gas from Myanmar to India.

This was stated by Mohammad Mohsin, secretary, energy and mineral resources division.

Image: Kyoto Review of Southeast Asia

"We have received a green signal from prime minister Sheikh Hasina and forwarded the proposal to the foreign ministry to resume negotiations with New Delhi and Yangon in this regard," Mohsin said.

In the past, India had failed to get Bangladeshi approval for its proposal to build a 290 km (181mile) pipeline to import gas from Myanmar.

According to Mohsin, Bangladesh would hope to access gas from the pipeline and also earn transit fees.

In the recent past Dhaka has ensured that some important militants from India's north-eastern states sheltering on their territory have been handed over to Indian authorities, circumventing the lack of an extradition treaty between both nations.