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Bangladesh, on Monday, welcomed India ’s one billion dollar aid for infrastructural development, with Syed Anwar Hussain, a professor of history at the University of Dhaka , acknowledging India ’s support to the eastern neighbour in times of crisis. The two countries have, until now, finalised nine projects and process is underway to finalise more projects, which would require half the credit amount. Interacting with media persons here, Hussain said, “We have just come across the information in the media that the Indian money of one billion dollars could be used in the construction of bridges. This would certainly help us in averting the crisis we are facing.” He said that India has always been closely associated with Bangladesh and they share cordial relations, adding that none of them could be solely held responsible for the glitches in their bilateral relations. “Our experience of the last 40 years has not been, as I would have wanted or liked and there are many explanations for that. It is not entirely that India is responsible for these mishaps in our bilateral relationship. There are also cases where Bangladesh had its own contribution in derailing their relationship,” he said. According to media reports, Indian officials said that New Delhi would not have any objection to the diversion of its $1.0 billion credit line for constructing the Padma Bridge as the World Bank scrapped a loan deal exposing the project to a difficult state. Bangladesh and India had earlier signed a comprehensive framework agreement on bilateral cooperation, a protocol on land boundaries, memoranda of understanding on renewable energy and conservation of the Sundarban mangrove forests, home of the Royal Bengal tigers. “Culturally and even politically, India is closely linked with the destiny of Bangladesh . This is a sort of regional superpower with an ambition for global power status. In crafting our relationship with India , we have to take all these factors in our mind,” he said.

Bangladesh welcomes India's one billion dollar aid