Bangladesh, India sign 129.5 km oil pipeline deal

Bangladesh and India have signed an agreement on Monday to construct a 129.5 km oil pipeline. The project will facilitate pumping at least 1 million tonnes of oil to Bangladesh every year.

The deal, which is a part of the six memorandum of understandings (MoUs), was signed during a meeting between the respective Foreign Secretaries in Dhaka.

Indian Foreign Secretary Vijay Keshav Gokhale reached Dhaka on Sunday to hold talks with senior Bangladeshi officials on a host of bilateral and regional issues.

The two countries signed MoUs on significant areas including education, culture, health, community welfare, road infrastructure among others.

The bilateral trade between India and Bangladesh is reported to have almost tripled from $2.75 billion in 2008-09 to $7.52 billion in 2016-17. Gokhale called Bangladesh India's biggest trade partner in South Asia.

The second phase of humanitarian assistance for the Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar was also announced. Bangladesh's foreign secretary, Shahdiul Haque, expressed his happiness over India's position on the Rohingya refugee issue.