The US Congress throughout our liberation struggle also gave us generous bipartisan support. Edward Kennedy, Frank Church, William Saxbe and scores of Senators and Congressmen spoke in our favour. The highpoint of the congressional effort was the adoption of the bipartisan Saxbe-Church Amendment to the Foreign Assistance bill to cut off both military and economic assistance to Pakistan. A similar bill was also passed by the House of Representatives.
In the cultural arena, world famous Sitarist Ustad Ravi Shankar, himself a Bengali, inspired Beetles singer George Harrison to sing at the Bangladesh concert at New York’s Madison Square Garden on 01 August, to a capacity crowd of 40,000. American peace activist and folk singer Joan Baez also sang in our favour in a series of concerts. Even ordinary people from all over the United States supported our cause. School children saved their lunch money and sent it for the Bangladesh refugees.

In the last few years, i.e. since the advent of BJP-led NDA Government of India, more agreements and line of credits have been signed than at any time in the past. According to you what has provided this new catalyzing momentum to bilateral relations between our two nations.

As I said earlier, the highest political leadership on both sides fully share the view that the destinies of our two neighboring countries are inescapably intertwined, and that there is no alternative to progressing together. Given our geographical proximity and objective condition on the ground, our long-term benefit can best be served by strengthening our bilateral ties. India is a fast-emerging global power with strong economic growth coupled with scientific and technological advancement, and Bangladesh should take full advantage of the high growth of the Indian economy to further her own economic development. On the other hand, a strong and stable Bangladesh provides the best security guarantee for India which surrounds Bangladesh on all three sides with a huge maritime boundary on the south. So, if we could synergize our priorities, we could establish win-win equation for the common benefit of our people.

Recently Indian Home Minister Mr. Rajnath Singh lauded Bangladesh’s role in combating the international scourge of terror. Obviously the present government has laid a lot of emphasis on this aspect. Kindly comment on this.
Security cooperation has been the high point of our relations. It is the principled and unequivocal position of Bangladesh, under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, not to tolerate violence and terrorism in any form and not to allow its soil to be used against the interest of any country, particularly India. This has significantly strengthened confidence of both sides and the recent comment of Home Minister Rajnath Singh is a testimony of that confidence. We look forward to continuing with our whole-hearted cooperation on Security.