Govt may review non-beneficial MoUs signed with India: foreign adviser

Bangladesh may review the MoUs signed with India so far if those are deemed not beneficial for the country, Foreign Affairs Adviser Touhid Hossain said today.

“MoUs are not agreements. Those can always be revised. If the Bangladesh government thinks those MoUs are not beneficial, those can always be reviewed,” he told reporters at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs after returning from Cameron where he attended an OIC conference on August 31.

Earlier, he was in the US for a two-day leave on a private visit.

Asked if former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who fled to India after her ouster on Augusta 5, would be extradited, Touhid Hossain said the government will seek her extradition if required.

“Whether or not she will be extradited depends on India,” he added.

Asked under what status Sheikh Hasina is sheltered in India as her red passport is cancelled by Bangladesh, he said he has no idea about it.

“We will have to ask India to know about it.”

Asked about the status of the projects being constructed under Indian line of credit, he said it is expected that the Indian contractors will soon come back to Bangladesh and resume their work as normalcy is returning.

On June 22, 2024, Dhaka and New Delhi signed 10 Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs), including seven new and three renewed, in the presence of former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi to further consolidate the ever-growing relationship between the two neighbouring countries.

The MoUs were signed after the delegation-level talks between the two countries at the Hyderabad House during Hasina’s two-day state visit to India.