The LBA, which is yet to be approved by Parliament, is aimed at redrawing the international boundary between India and Bangladesh by exchanging areas of adverse possession and enclaves along with population on either side, thus making the highly incongruous and porous Indo-Bangla border more manageable.
In 2011, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, then an ally of the Congress-led UPA, backed out from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Bangladesh visit, opposing the Teesta water sharing treaty between India and Bangladesh, following which it was shelved.
Swaraj said, “This is my first official visit after becoming foreign minister... The meetings with senior Bangladeshi leaders were cordial and will lay the foundation for future cooperation between the two countries”.
She also laid stress on better relations between the two countries in the fields of trade and culture. Asked whether there will be qualitative changes in Indo-Bangladesh relations after the change of guard in New Delhi given that the ruling Awami League shared a special relationship with the Congress party, Swaraj said, “Our government will try to build relations with the present Bangladesh government”.
“Relations between the two countries depend on the relations between their people and the governments. We want a wide-ranging and inclusive relationship with Bangladesh and hope to achieve this by taking everyone along,” she said.
Asked whether the NDA regime would support the Januray 5 elections in Bangladesh that was not “representative”, Swaraj said, “We cannot comment on Bangladesh's elections. The political future of the country will be decided by its people”.
Asked her for comments about a notion that India gained many things from the incumbent Awami League government and in return gave nothing significant turning the bilateral relationship into a one-sided affair, Swaraj disagreed.
“This notion is not correct. India-Bangladesh relations are a two-way traffic (and) the bilateral ties witnessed some specific development which was possible due to mutual cooperation,” she said.
She said during the period India opened its market for all Bangladeshi products excepting 25 items and Bangladesh set a record in exporting to India last year while Bangladesh too appeared to be a prospective area for Indian investments.
Asked what the outcome of her Dhaka tour was, she said, “It was my first tour abroad as the Indian external affairs minister when I carried with me the message of friendship on behalf of the new Indian government”.
“I think, the time has come to bring about a qualitative change in India-Bangladesh relations, against the backdrop of the problems we face in this region, the bilateral ties should be strengthened further in certain areas like poverty alleviation, fight against illiteracy, terrorism, extremism and fundamentalism,” Swaraj said.
During her visit, Swaraj held a series of meetings with top Bangladeshi leaders including President Abdul Hamid, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, her counterpart A H Mahmud Ali, Opposition leader Raushan Ershad and former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia.
