New Delhi: A delegation of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) arrived in New Delhi on Saturday for the 53rd Director General level border coordination conference with the Border Security Force (BSF). Curbing various trans-border crimes and timely sharing of information between both the border guarding forces are the major issues that will come up for discussion during the four-day-long conference scheduled to start on Sunday.
"The 53rd Director General level border co-ordination conference between BSF and BGB will be organized by BSF at BSF Camp Chhawla in New Delhi from June 11 to 14,” a BSF spokesperson said. During the conference, the BSF delegation will be led by Director General Dr Sujoy Lal Thaosen, whereas the BGB delegation will be headed by Maj Gen A K M Nazmul Hasan, Director General, BGB.
The conference is being organized to discuss border-related issues and for better coordination between both border guarding forces, the spokesperson said. "During the course of the conference, discussions will be held on how to jointly curb the various trans-border crimes and timely sharing of information between both the Border Guarding Forces. Furthermore, there will be deliberations on developmental and infrastructural works, joint efforts for effective implementation of Coordinated Border Management Plan (CBMP) and Confidence Building Measures (CBMs),” the spokesperson said. The last BSF-BGB border coordination conference was held from July 17 to 21 in 2022 in Dhaka.
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The joint Indo-Bangladesh guidelines for Border Authorities – 1975 envisage that there should be frequent contact between the border authorities of the two concerned countries to discuss matters of immediate administrative concern. An Indian delegation under the leadership of Ashwani Kumar, former Director General of BSF and the Bangladesh delegation under the leadership of Major General Quazi Golam Dastgir, former Director General of BDR (now BGB) met in Kolkata on December 2, 1975, for the first time to discuss mutual border problems. Since then, the meetings between DG, BSF and DG, BGB were held annually alternatively in India and Bangladesh till 1993.
During discussions between the Home Secretaries of India and Bangladesh that were held in Dhaka in 1993, it was agreed that the Director General level meetings between BSF and BGB were to be a bi-annual event. In the agreed summary of discussions during the said meeting, it was emphasized that problems in the areas of mutual interests and concerns could be progressively resolved through close contacts and continuing meaningful dialogue at various levels.
Accordingly, DG, BSF and DG, BGB have been holding border coordination meetings twice a year alternatively at New Delhi and Dhaka and joint recordings of discussions of these meetings are forwarded to the Ministry of Home Affairs after each such meeting, the spokesperson said.
