Guwahati: Indo-Bangladesh Border Talks from Today

Guwahati to host the 51^st edition of Indo-Bangladesh DG-level border talks from Tuesday for the first time. The border talks between the Border Security Force (BSF) and its counterpart Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) will be held outside New Delhi for the first time as the biannual talks which began in 1993 were held in New Delhi or Dhaka.

The Director-General level talks is being held to discuss the border related issues and enable better coordination of both the border guarding forces.

According to reports, several key issues will be discussed during the talks to be held in Guwahati from today.

The key agendas of the talks would be to curb the border crimes and enhancing cooperation between the two countries. The BSF is also likely to take up the fencing issue of the unfenced areas during the four-day long meet.

The two sides are also expected to solidify new standard operating procedures (SOPs) in view of the crossing over of a 'significant' number of mentally-challenged Indian nationals to Bangladesh.

Deliberations will also be held on developmental and infrastructure works, joint efforts for implementation of Coordinated Border Management Plan (CBMP) and confidence building measure.

Notably, BSF's Guwahati frontier headquarters is responsible for guarding 495 kilometres of the 4,096km-long India-Bangladesh border, according to a report of NeNow.

With the talks taking place close to the international border, top brass of both sides might take up the opportunity to jointly visit some of the bordering areas in Assam.

BSF DG Rakesh Asthana will lead the talks with his BGB counterpart Major General Shafeenul Islam.