New Delhi, June 22: India on Saturday said that it would begin a medical e-visa facility for Bangladesh citizens and open an Assistant High Commission in Rangpur even as both countries agreed to start negotiations on a comprehensive economic partnership agreement and send a technical team to discuss the Teesta River water-sharing plan.

India and Bangladesh also signed 10 pacts as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and visiting Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina held talks at Hyderabad House.

After the meeting between the two leaders, officials from India and Bangladesh signed agreements on digital partnership, green partnership, maritime cooperation and blue economy, space cooperation, railway connectivity, oceanography, defence and strategic operation studies, and renewed pacts on health and medicine, disaster management and fisheries.

“I am confident that together we will realise the goals of Viksit Bharat 2047 and Smart Bangladesh,” PM Modi said after the pacts were signed. He added that they have kept their focus on “connectivity, commerce and collaboration”.

PM Hasina said, “As Dhaka and Delhi have started new journeys, we charted the future course of action, to ensure a smart Bangladesh by following Vision 2041 and Viksit Bharat by 2047.”

Modi said that they held detailed discussions on strengthening defence cooperation — from defence production to modernisation of armed forces. He said that they also agreed to strengthen their cooperation on counter-terrorism, combatting extremism and peaceful management of the borders.

Less than two weeks after she came to New Delhi for the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Modi and the Union Council of Ministers, PM Hasina returned to the national capital on Friday on a two-day state visit and met External Affairs Minister of India S Jaishankar.

This is the first incoming bilateral state visit by a foreign leader after the formation of the new government following the Lok Sabha elections.

Hasina was among seven leaders from India’s neighbourhood and the Indian Ocean region who attended the swearing-in ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on June 9.

Apart from holding bilateral consultations with Modi, she is scheduled to call on Indian President Draupadi Murmu and Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar.

Officials said that India and Bangladesh “share deep-rooted bonds of history, language, culture, and multitude of other commonalities. The outstanding nature of bilateral ties is reflected in an all-encompassing partnership based on sovereignty, equality, trust, and understanding. This partnership has evolved as a model for bilateral relations for the entire region and beyond”.-Agencies