India, Bangladesh exploring cross-border LNG pipeline: Shringla

Bangladesh and India are exploring a cross-border pipeline for liquified natural gas (LNG) and an LNG terminal, India's Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said today.

Pointing out that an India-Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline is under construction, he said India's energy grids are increasingly being integrated with those of its neighbours.

Addressing an event to inaugurate the first session of a training module on India's "Neighbourhood First" policy for India's future administrative services officers in Mussoorie, Shringla said cross-border cooperation in the power sector has been an area of striking success.

The Indian power grid is connected to Nepal, Bhutan, and Bangladesh via high-capacity connections. India supplies about 1160 MW of power to Bangladesh, about 700 MW to Nepal, and imports 1.8 GW from Bhutan, he said.

India has also taken the lead in creating power capacity in the region and has created 2,100 MW of hydropower capacity in Bhutan and more are being created. Besides, India is constructing the 1,320 MW Maitree super thermal power project in Bangladesh, Shringla added.

The Indian foreign secretary singled out India-Bangladesh ties to underline the neighbourhood first policy.

"The only country that our president, prime minister and external affairs minister have all visited since the Covid-19 pandemic struck has been Bangladesh. They did so to cement a very special relationship on the 50th anniversary of the Liberation of Bangladesh and the establishment of bilateral diplomatic relations," he remarked.

Referring to connectivity in South Asia, he said India and Bangladesh will soon be connected via six rail links, and India and Nepal via two rail links.

Shringla said India's pursuit of globalisation begins with its neighbourhood. "It is the neighbourhood that comes first and foremost amongst all our foreign policy priorities".