High Commissioner of Bangladesh Tariq Karim met Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday. Karim was in Gandhinagar to attend a workshop on environment. Apart from environmental issues like climate change, he also discussed on strengthening mutual relations between India and Bangladesh.
Karim and Modi discussed on possible tie-ups in the areas of textile, ship-building and ship-breaking with Gujarat. The High Commissioner also showed keen interest to work jointly on mangrove plantation on massive scale as well as seaweed farming. Meanwhile, at the workshop organised by Gujarat Ecological Commission, the Bangladesh High Commissioner said that the member countries of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) should form a water management authority to resolve water related problems as well as to improve ecology.
“The authority should be empowered to tackle water related issues between the member countries. Besides, it should work on issues like salinity ingress, maximum utilisation of surface water and quality of groundwater in the region,” said Karim. He stressed on bilateral co-operation to preserve ecology of the Sunderbans, which is the largest single block of tidal halophytic mangrove forest in the world. China is constructing a dam on river Brahmaputra and how it would affect ecology of the UNESCO World Heritage site —Sunderbans — covering parts of Bangladesh and India (West Bengal). “Both the country should promptly work on possible effect on the Sunderbans,” he said.