The marked improvement of Bangladesh-India ties has manifested itself in numerous ways such as increased connectivity, economic and energy cooperation and people-to-people contacts. Now a new major development in bilateral ties between the two friendly countries is all but set to take place in the energy sector. According to report in yesterday’s Daily Sun Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi are scheduled to inaugurate the operation of India-Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline (IBFP) for diesel supply on March 17, marking the birthday of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

According to the report, construction of the pipeline which began in early 2020 has already been completed and the facility is now ready to be commissioned to carry gasoil from India. The pipeline stretches 125 kms through Bangladesh and 5 kms through India passing through Panchagarh, Niphamari and Dinajpur to the Parbatipur oil storage facility in Bangladesh. Built at a cost of around 350 crore India rupees, the pipeline is expected to dramatically improve gasoil import and transportation from India.

The pipeline can carry around 250,000 tonnes of gasoil per year under the agreement between the two countries. Indian petroleum ministry officials said the volume will be gradually increased to 400,000 tonnes per year and subsequently to around 1 million tonnes a year.

We hope it will usher in a new phase in bilateral cooperation between the two countries and both the countries will be benefited from this facility. In this era of global inter-connectivity, no country can prosper from isolation. Both India and Bangladesh share a vision of moving forward based on the principle that the potentials in the South Asian regions will have to be harnessed together. Certainly, there are no two ways about it.