For the second time since he assumed office, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had meetings with SAARC leaders, this time on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly on Saturday. READ: PM Narendra Modi calls for world peace at Global Citizen Festival in NY Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Nepal’s Prime Minister Sushil Koirala met with Modi for over 30 minutes each. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh, who had been unable to attend Modi’s swearing-in in May, also met the Prime Minister. There was no meeting with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan. The press briefing after the three bilateral meetings made it clear that Modi was keen to follow up on the agenda he has been discussing with foreign leaders so far – and that this was being done in New Delhi at the level of the Cabinet Secretary. ALSO READ: Prime Minister Narendra Modi at UNGA: No talks with Pak in ‘shadow of terror’ The PM discussed both the Teesta river water-sharing agreement and the land boundary agreement during his meeting with Hasina. He assured her that the new Standing Committee was in the process of examining the land boundary agreement, and that progress would be swift. He also told Hasina that until a “consensus” was reached between the two neighbours, the water of the Teesta would flow unimpeded into her country. The Modi-Rajapaksa meeting did a review of India-aided development projects, including the Sampur thermal power project, for which environmental clearances are now being processed. READ: Narendra Modi’s visit to mark new era in Indo-US relations: Frank Islam The two leaders are understood to have discussed at length the complex issue of fishermen, 76 of whom are currently in Sri Lankan custody. The two sides are said to have agreed on the need to find a “long term” solution to the problem. With Koirala, Modi reviewed the two major bilateral projects discussed during their talks in Kathmandu: the power trading, and power development, agreements. The Nepal Prime Minister was informed that while one of the agreements had already been “initialed” in New Delhi, the other was in the final stage of implementation. Possible Indian logistic support for the SAARC summit in Kathmandu in November was also discussed. READ MORE: Why G-5, G-20 and so on? asks Modi, Let’s have G-All In keeping with Modi’s diplomatic principle of “neighbours first”, he accepted invitations to visit Sri Lanka and Bangladesh “at an early date”, and assured Koirala that he would visit Janakpur and Lumbini on his next visit to that country. During these interactions, Modi is understood to have been congratulated by the South Asian leaders on India’s successful Mars mission, who also asked him about the progress on the proposed SAARC satellite mission.
