New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina held a virtual meet today and jointly inaugurated the Chilahati-Haldibari rail link between India and Bangladesh.

Sheikh Hasina today told Modi that India is Bangladesh’s true friend and expressed her gratitude to the country for the support during the 1971 liberation war against Pakistan, as the two countries signed seven agreements to enhance bilateral ties.

Addressing a virtual summit with Modi, Hasina said that she is happy to meet her Indian counterpart again, ‘particularly on this month of victory’.

‘December evokes in all Bangladeshis the spirit of joy, freedom and celebration as we recall with deep gratitude our ‘Father of the Nation’ Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Under whose dynamic leadership we earned our great independence,’ she said.

‘I pay deep homage to the three million martyrs who laid down their lives. I pay tribute to the members of the Indian armed forces martyred in the war and to their families. I pay my gratitude to the government and the people of India who extended their whole hearted support for the cause of our nation,’ she said.

Modi said that Bangladesh is a key pillar of India’s ‘neighbourhood first’ policy and added that strengthening ties with the country has been one of his priorities since he came to power.