Bangladesh
Bangladesh-India India interested in building airport in Bangladesh
Dhaka, February 4: Neighbouring India has expressed interest in building and operating an airport in Bangladesh. At the same time, the country has also expressed interest in training the personnel employed in the aviation sector of Bangladesh, starting flights to new destinations in India.
Pranay Kumar Verma, the High Commissioner of India appointed in Dhaka, expressed this interest in a courtesy meeting with Air Vice Marshal Md. Mofidur Rahman, Chairman of Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) on Friday. In the meeting, Pranay Kumar Verma expressed interest in increasing the capacity of existing airports, building and operating new airports with Indian financing (line of credit). Apart from this, during the meeting, the issues of increasing mutual cooperation between the aviation sector of the two countries and cooperation in developing skilled manpower in the aviation sector of Bangladesh were discussed.
At present, 12 CAAB officers are undergoing Basic Air Traffic Controllers training in Allahabad, India. All expenses of the training are borne by the Government of India. CAAB Chairman expressed his gratitude to the Government of India for this cooperation. Air Service Agreement between Bangladesh and India was executed in 1978. During the discussion in the meeting, emphasis was placed on modernizing the existing aviation agreement between the two countries. Discussions were held to encourage the airlines of both countries to operate more flights with a view to speeding up connectivity between the two countries. The Ambassador of India emphasized on increasing the communication of Bangladesh with the major cities of the eastern region of India.
It is proposed to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to enhance cooperation between the Civil Aviation Training Academies of the two countries. Besides, fruitful discussions were held on solving the outstanding issues related to air traffic control in the airspace of Bangladesh.
