Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia also sought duty-free access for Bangladeshi goods to India saying this would help narrow the widening trade gap between the two countries and "help us base our economic relations on an even more solid foundation".

"The fact that we share many common rivers implies that we should have a common approach towards sharing the waters of our common rivers," Khaleda said at a banquet hosted by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in her honour.

She said "constructive engagement in result-oriented solution to water-related issues would certainly contribute to consolidating and strengthening" the bilateral ties.

"We should also not allow the natural courses of our major rivers to be altered as that would cause unmanageable economic and ecological consequences," she said after her hour-long one-to-one talks with Singh.

Describing the talks with Khaleda as "intensive and useful exchange of views on the full range of issues that are important in our bilateral ties," Singh said, "Our dialogue was most useful in understanding each other's point of view and in making progress on various issues."

He said it is in India's "fundamental interest" to see Bangladesh as a "strong, stable and economically strong" country making its full contribution to regional development.

Manmohan Singh said the agreements signed yesterday will provide the right framework for guiding and expanding economic and commercial cooperation between the two countries.

Khaleda said one of the foremost objectives of her trip has been to "constructively contribute to promotion of trust, understanding and cooperation" between the two countries.

"This spirit was adequately reflected in the formal discussions between our two sides earlier," she said. Noting that Dhaka wanted to strengthen friendly ties with New Delhi, she said, "We owe it to ourselves to do our best to narrow down differences."

She said Bangladesh is "trying to deepen democracy and combat extremism and terrorism in order to ensure orderly progress and preserve the liberal ethos of our nationhood".

Expressing confidence that despite the "odds and problems before us, the true Bangladeshi spirit will always prevail", Khaleda said, "I also assure you that in a vibrant, dynamic and forward-looking Bangladesh, you will always have a close friend, valuing your friendship and working hand in hand with you to actualise the true potentials of our relations."

She said the economic and social challenges before the two countries are very similar.

Noting that the trade ties between the two countries have grown over the last three decades and Bangladesh is India's largest trading partner among the Saarc countries, she said it spoke volumes about the important economic underpinning of bilateral ties.

The Bangladesh PM said Dhaka will encourage trade-creating Indian investments in her country.

She said the potential of bilateral cooperation in human resources development, science and technology, education, agriculture, people-to-people contact and such other areas are enormous and her country is eager to promote cooperation in these areas.

KHALEDA MEETS KALAM
Prime Minister Khaleda Zia yesterday raised the water sharing issue of common rivers when she called on Indian President APJ Abdul Kalam, sources said.

The Indian president told Khaleda that there was no dearth of water in the subcontinent. He underscored the need for water management, the sources added.

Kalam suggested more connectivity between India and Bangladesh and said: "Physical connectivity will lead to more connectivity of mind."

The Indian president said there should be more links between the two countries by road, rail and air, a Rashtrapati Bhavan spokesman said.

During the 30-minute meeting at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Kalam also offered assistance to Bangladesh in its rural health programme, including telemedicine.

Khaleda invited Kalam to visit Bangladesh.