A 14-day Indo-Bangladesh joint military training exercise, Sampriti-IX, will be conducted at Umroi, Ri-Bhoi, Meghalaya from 3rd of February. Command Post Exercise (CPX) and a Field Training Exercise (FTX) will be conducted during joint military exercise.
India and Bangladesh signed an agreement to upgrade the 58-kilometre long road between Ashuganj river port and the Akhaura land port in Bangladesh into a 4-lane highway. The deal was signed between the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) of Bangladesh and an Indian Company Afcons Infrastructure Limited, to upgrade the 39 km long road between Ashuganj river port to Dharhar area.
The RHD and an India-Bangladesh joint venture firm will take up the work of upgrading the remaining part of the road from Dharhar to Akhaura. The project is part of the dollar 2 billion second line of credit extended by India to Bangladesh in 2016. Both governments have identified 46 projects in Bangladesh that would improve connectivity within the country and out of the country.
Bangladesh is set to begin the distribution of e-passports. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is expected to launch the e-passport distribution at an event scheduled to be held at the capital’s Bangabandhu International Conference Centre. The President and Prime Minister will receive the e-passports first and anyone can apply for it.
The delivery of e-passports will start in regional offices by the end of 2020. The services will expand in phases, machine-readable passports will remain valid as well. The Department of Immigration and Passports will issue 48-page and 64-page e-passports with the validity of five years and 10 years, respectively.
The decision on introducing digital passport comes less than a decade after Bangladesh switched from manual to the machine-readable passport. The government took the initiative to introduce e-passports in the wake of more than one passport being illegally issued against one person in the absence of database of fingerprints of citizens.
The India-Bangladesh Information and Broadcasting Ministers’ Meet 2020 was held in New Delhi on 14th January. India’s Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Prakash Javadekar and Bangladeshi counterpart Muhammad H Mahmud were representing their respective countries in the meet. The meeting was concluded with the signing of some MoU’s between the two countries. During the meeting, the two ministers signed MoU for content exchange programme between Prasar Bharati and Bangladesh Radio Betar. According to the MoU, Indian content will be aired on Bangladesh Radio Betar and reciprocally All India Radio will air content of Bangladesh Radio Betar.
India’s National Film Development Corporation and Bangladesh’s Film Development Corporation has also signed MoU to jointly produce a film as the biopic of Bangladesh’s first president Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and will be directed by the noted Indian Director Shyam Benegal. The biopic is planned to be released in March 2021 on the occasion of centenary celebrations of Banga Bandhu. Bangladesh will also celebrate “Mujib Year” from March 17, 2020 to March 17, 2021 to commemorate the centenary year of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. During the Meet, India also announced to extend its support for the establishment and development of ‘Bongobondhu Film City’.
The 18th edition of Dhaka International Film Festival begins at Dhaka, Bangladesh. The theme of the festival is ‘Better Film, Better Audience and Better Society’. The Festival was inaugurated by the Foreign Minister of Bangladesh Dr. A.K. Abdul Momen.
It started with the screening of the Spanish-Greek film ‘Window to the Sea’, directed by Miguel Angel Jimenez, at Bangladesh National Museum (BNM). During the festival 220 films from 74 countries will be screened across various venues in Dhaka between 11-19 January.
The first phase of the world’s second largest Muslim congregation after Haj begins in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Thousands of devotees from Bangladesh and abroad are thronging the bank of river Turag at Tongi near Dhaka to participate in the congregation called Bishwa Ijtema. The Ijtema began with the ‘aam bayan’ and will end on January 12 with the final prayers ‘Akheri Munajat’. The second phase of Bishwa Ijtem will take place between January 17-19.