India taking ties with Bangladesh in positive direction: Jaiswal

India is taking its relationship with Bangladesh in a “positive direction” and has continued to meet Bangladesh’s additional fuel requests amid the energy crisis triggered by the Middle East conflict, according to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

"We have already indicated that we are taking the relationship with Bangladesh in a positive direction,” MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal told reporters at a regular briefing in New Delhi on Tuesday.

The spokesperson said Bangladesh Foreign Minister Khalilur Rahman recently visited New Delhi, while India's Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla travelled to Dhaka. "That is the trajectory of the present relationship with Bangladesh."

Jaiswal said India has continued supplying fuel to countries in the neighbourhood, including Bangladesh, through the India-Bangladesh friendship pipeline.

"We have been supplying diesel to Bangladesh through the high-speed diesel friendship pipeline. We also received additional requests from Bangladesh, which we have met and continue to meet," he said.

On illegal immigration, the MEA spokesperson said this is a subject of discussion between Bangladesh and India.

“Over the last several years, we have requested Bangladesh to verify the nationality of over 2,860 people whom we believe are Bangladeshi nationals staying here in India,” he said, noting that they are yet to receive a response on this particular matter.

Jaiswal said India closely follows all the developments that happen around the world, and it did the same in relation to the trip made by Bangladesh Foreign Minister Khalilur Rahman to China recently.

"As practitioners of international relations and diplomats here, and as officers at the Ministry of External Affairs, we closely follow all the developments that happen around the world, and we continue to do so in relation to the trip that you mentioned,” he told reporters at the briefing.

The MEA spokesperson also mentioned that India’s relations with its neighbouring countries stand on their own, keeping in view their mutual interests. “So that is where it is,” he said.

Jaiswal made the remarks when an Indian journalist drew his attention to Khalilur’s visit to China and discussions over the Teesta project.

At the invitation of Wang Yi, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and foreign minister of China, Khalilur visited the country from 5 to 7 May, during which the two sides held talks in Beijing.