The 51st round of the 5-day Director General (DG) Level Border Coordination meeting between India’s Border Security Force (BSF) & Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) is taking place at Guwahati, Assam for the 1st time from December 22-26, 2020. This is the 1st time in 4 decades that the Biannual conference is being held outside Delhi. The 12-member BSF delegation was led by Director General Rakesh Asthana & the 11-member BGB delegation was led by Major General Md Shafeenul Islam.

Objective:

To discuss border related issues & to build coordination between the two border guarding forces.

Key Points of the Meeting:

i.The two sides discussed issues regarding developmental, infrastructure work & joint efforts for implementation of Coordinated Border Management Plan & Confidence Building Measures.

ii.The two sides also held discussions regarding river bank conservation in the border areas.

iii.The two sides agreed to share ‘real-time information’ through formal or informal channels in respect to issues like human trafficking, smuggling of narcotics, fake Indian Currency notes, cattle, arms, ammunition, explosives, information regarding anti-social elements, activities of IIGs (Indian Insurgent Groups) & breach or damage of border fence.

iv.The conference concluded with the signing of a Joint Record of Discussion (JRD) by both sides.

v.BSF & BGB agreed to intensify joint night vigil to prevent smuggling & other activities.

Earlier Meetings:

In September 2020, a 6-day DG Level meeting between BSF-BGB took place at Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Background:

In 1975, BSF DG Aswani Kumar & former BGB DG Major General Kuazi Golam Dastagir met in Kolkata for the first time to discuss trans-border problems between the 2 countries.