By Elishya Perera
DHAKA, Bangladesh (CWBN)_For the first time in four decades, the 51st director general-level border coordination conference between the Border Security Force (BSF) of India and Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) will be held outside of Delhi.
The biannual conference will be held from December 22 to 26, in Guwahati, India, an official statement said. The BGB delegation will be headed by the chief Major General Md Shafeenul Islam, while Director General Rakesh Asthana will lead the BSF delegation.
According to the statement, the parties are expected to conduct deliberations on joint efforts to develop an effective Coordinated Border Management Plan (CBMP), as well as other Confidence Building Measures (CBMs).
From 1975, the border authorities of the two neighbouring countries met once a year to discuss mutual border issues, and in October 1993, it was agreed that the director general-level conference would be a biannual event.
Officials say that the Bangladeshi border force is expected to take up issues related to killings of its people along the border, at this week’s conference, while their Indian counterparts are expected to take up issues of cross-border crimes and the need to fence the unfenced areas of the border.
During previous talks which were held in September, the two forces agreed to “share real-time information” with each other regarding smuggling of arms, ammunition, narcotics, fake Indian currency, as well as human trafficking.
