History The partition of Bengal and
India on 15 August 1947 led to the establishment of the Indian state of
West Bengal;
East Bengal became a province of the state of
Pakistan. The hostile bilateral relations between the two nations made transport links very limited, despite the cultural and commercial links between West and East Bengal. At the outbreak of the
Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, the only railway link between Dhaka and Kolkata was shut down, and not resumed until 2008 with the launch of the Maitree Express. After the
establishment of Bangladesh following the
Bangladesh liberation war in 1971, bilateral relations improved considerably, but the two governments moved slowly on implementing a 1980 agreement on improving transport links. In the 1990s, the Indian and Bangladeshi governments collaborated to open bus services between
Kolkata, the capital of
West Bengal and one of the largest cities in
India, and
Dhaka, the capital and largest city of
Bangladesh. In 2001, another bus service was launched to connect Dhaka with
Agartala, the capital of the Indian state of
Tripura the second largest city of
Northeast India that borders Bangladesh in the east.
India-Bangladesh borders Both share physical land as well as maritime borders: •
Bangladesh-India border •
India–Bangladesh border haats •
India-Bangladesh maritime border and EEZ International transport connection frameworks India's Look-East connectivity policy has resulted in the launch of several connectivity projects with neighbouring countries to the east, including Bangladesh, Myanmar and
ASEAN nations. India-Bangladesh transport and other strategic inter-linkages, such as energy and internet, etc are driven by both the
bilateral agreements as well as the following international cooperation frameworks many of which are facilitated by the
United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP)'s
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): == Aerial services==