Guwahati: In a major development, Bangladesh has offered the Chittagong Port of the country for use by the Northeastern states.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday said that India’s North-Eastern states can access the Chittagong port for the purpose.
“If the connectivity is increased, the Indian North-Eastern states like Assam and Tripura can have access to the Chittagong seaport,” Hasina reportedly said during her interaction with EAM Jaishankar as quoted by Dhaka Tribune.
The Chittagong port is one of the important seaports of Bangladesh, located in the region of Chittagong hill tracts on the banks of the Karnaphuli River.
The port handles 80% of Bangladesh’s export-import trade and has been used by India, Nepal, and Bhutan for trans-shipment.
Due to the sea port’s close proximity with the Northeast, the port facility has the potential to significantly boost economic activity in the North-East Indian states, providing close access to global shipping lanes.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday met Bangladeshi Prime Minister Hasina in Dhaka.
EAM Jaishankar called upon Sheikh Hasina who then offered her country’s main seaport, the Chittagong Port to Indian states like Assam and Tripura.
During this while, she emphasized that both the countries need to increase connectivity further which would be possible with access to the port, informed her press secretary Ihsanul Karim.
She further said that the enhanced connectivity was needed for mutual benefit and it would particularly benefit India’s northeastern region in using Bangladesh’s southeastern Chittagong port.
“If the connectivity is increased, the Indian northeastern states like Assam and Tripura- can have access to the seaport in Chattogram,” Hasina added.