Bangladesh said talks with India on renewing the 1996 Ganges Water Treaty are progressing positively. The December deadline makes the pact a key test of bilateral trust and water cooperation.

Bangladesh on Thursday said it expected India’s support for the renewal of the 1996 Ganges Water Treaty, which is due to expire in December, and added that talks with New Delhi were under way. Water sharing remains a key issue in ties between the two neighbours, with the treaty governing dry-season sharing of the Ganges for 30 years.

Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Shama Obaed Islam said discussions with India were moving positively, while stressing the importance of the agreement for both countries. She also said Bangladesh remained hopeful about the treaty’s renewal, even though the final decision rested with India.

“We believe the discussions with India are moving in a positive direction bilateral negotiations on the treaty are continuing,” Shama Obaed told reporters at a news briefing. “I hope India will understand its importance and come forward accordingly.” She later said Bangladesh believed “India understands the importance of the treaty and the significance of the Ganges waters for both countries”. “I believe India will make the right decision, taking that into consideration and with the shared interest of ensuring that our bilateral relationship is not harmed in any way,” she said.

The Ganges Water Treaty was signed in 1996 during the first term of deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s now disbanded Awami League government. Bangladesh, a lower riparian deltaic country crisscrossed by nearly 1,500 rivers, shares the streams of 54 major rivers, including the Ganges, with upper riparian India.

Former Bangladesh High Commissioner to India Tariq A Karim recently told a seminar that the 1996 Ganges treaty showed that cooperation was possible “even on sensitive issues”. “But the agreement is due to expire in December, and its renewal will test if the region can adapt old agreements to new hydrological and climatic realities,” he said.

Asked what made her optimistic about the treaty’s renewal, Shama Obaed said she could not elaborate on the ongoing negotiations at this stage. She said Bangladesh remained “hopeful” even though the decision on renewal “ultimately rests with India”. She also said the team and committee formed by Prime Minister Tarique Rahman were actively working with India on the issue despite the limited time left before the treaty expires. Bangladesh and India discuss water-sharing and other river-related matters through the Joint Rivers Commission, the institutional mechanism set up to advance bilateral cooperation on shared water resources.

With the December deadline approaching, Bangladesh has said negotiations are continuing and has expressed hope that India will back the renewal of the 1996 treaty, which remains central to water-sharing between the two countries.

With PTI Inputs