Minister of Water Resources of Bangladesh Zahid Faruq and Deputy Minister Enamul Haq Shamim will lead a delegation at the Minister-level Joint River Commission meeting to be hosted here on Thursday, diplomatic sources have confirmed.
The announcement indicated confidence among the officials for a positive outcome at the meeting that will be held after more than a decade.
An eight-member delegation of senior officials from the Ministry of Water Resources of Bangladesh held talks with their Indian counterparts as officials maintained a studied silence on the agenda of the upcoming meeting.
A diplomatic source, however, said that there was a "positive spirit" in the talks as both sides are focused on achieving something concrete during the Ministers-level meeting.
The Hindu had earlier reported that at least one big agreement involving major cross-border rivers are expected to be sealed during the JRC which last met at the Ministers-level on March 18-19, 2010.
It is understood that both sides have been in talks to conclude an agreement on the Kushiyara river that borders Assam. That apart, there is also a possibility that the renewal of the 1996 Ganga Waters Treaty may also be on the table.
The JRC is likely to be steered by mutual understanding that river water sharing has to be taken beyond the unresolved deadlock over the Teesta waters sharing agreement which remains unfulfilled because of obvious differences between New Delhi and Kolkata.
Dhaka has been demanding a Ministers-level JRC for several years and Thursday's meeting is expected to pave the way for Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's upcoming visit that is being regarded as a crucial trip because of the 2023 election in Bangladesh.
The cautious approach of officials on both sides regarding the JRC is explained by the fact that water sharing is a sensitive topic which often generates political controversy.
