India keeping tabs on recent Rakhine turmoil, Jaishankar tells PM

India is keeping a close eye on the recent unrest in Myanmar's Rakhine state, according to Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, as Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said the turmoil might hamper the Rohingya repatriation process.

"The turmoil will not be good for anyone," Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen told reporters on Monday after Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar called on the India-visiting premier.

On a four-day state visit to India, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina reached New Delhi on Monday noon. On arrival at Palam Airport, she was received by State Minister for Railways and Textiles of India Darshana Vikram Jardosh and Bangladesh High Commissioner to India Muhammad Imran.

From the airport Sheikh Hasina drove in a ceremonial motorcade to ITC Maurya, where she will be staying during the visit.

Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar paid the courtesy call on the premier at ITC Maurya in the afternoon.

Jaishankar said he is delighted to meet the Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. "The warmth and frequency of our leadership level contacts is a testimony to our close neighbourly partnership," he tweeted after the meeting.

After the meeting, Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen told journalists that both Bangladesh and India placed their proposals to enhance the connectivity between the two neighbouring countries.

Bangladesh said priority should be given on those projects that will ensure betterment for the people of Bangladesh, India, Bhutan and Nepal. "We know that there are some projects that are getting late," said the foreign secretary.

Talking about the grid connectivity, the foreign secretary said that there are matters of bringing electricity from Nepal and Bhutan while there is also the issue of passing electricity from one part of India to another one.

Both the prime minister and the Indian external affairs minister expressed their hopes on this issue, he said.

The two leaders discussed the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict that has put a squeeze on the world economy.

The foreign secretary said purchasing surplus fuel from India will also be discussed on Tuesday with mutually agreed terms and conditions to meet the demands amid the crisis due to the Ukraine-Russia war.

Talking about purchasing fuel from Russia, he said it is not correct that Bangladesh cannot get oil from Russia but the fact is that they are now scrutinising the technical specifications to that end.

The foreign secretary said they are also looking into which medium of transaction will be chosen to settle such purchases. "From India, we can get their surplus fuel (if any) with our favourable terms and conditions. We will of course consider that."

Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen said he is optimic that pre-signing procedures of the planned seven MoUs will be completed by Monday night and will be handed over during bilateral talks between Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi on Tuesday. 

Responding to a question, he said interim water sharing of Kushiyara River is one of them. Earlier, Bangladesh and India finalised the text of a memorandum of understanding (MoU).

The foreign secretary said water sharing issues including Teesta and Ganges might come up during Tuesday's meeting with many other issues.