Bangladesh is seeking to renew the Ganges Water Treaty with India before the current agreement expires in December, with the government expressing optimism that negotiations are moving in a positive direction.
State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shama Obaed Islam said on Thursday that discussions on the treaty were progressing constructively.
“I think it is moving in a positive direction. I hope India will understand its importance and come forward accordingly,” she told reporters when asked about the renewal process.
The Bangladesh-India Ganges Water Treaty, signed on 12 December 1996 for a period of 30 years, expires in December 2026. Bangladesh and India share 54 rivers, including the Ganges, and water-sharing issues are managed through the Joint Rivers Commission, the two countries' bilateral mechanism for river cooperation.
Officials have warned that Bangladesh's agriculture, food security and climate resilience could be severely affected if the treaty expires without a new agreement. Experts have also called for the next treaty to reflect today's environmental and economic realities rather than simply extending the existing framework.
They say a revised agreement should involve not only engineers and diplomats but also economists, urban planners, sociologists and environmentalists to address growing climate risks and ensure equitable water sharing.
Former Bangladesh High Commissioner to India Tariq A Karim said the 1996 treaty proved that cooperation was possible even on sensitive cross-border issues.
“But the treaty is due to expire in December 2026, and its renewal will test whether the region can adapt old agreements to new hydrological and climatic realities,” he said at a recent seminar.
The former diplomat, who also served as Bangladesh's ambassador to the United States, said water, food, energy, health, disaster management and climate resilience should be treated as shared regional public goods.
“No country can secure them alone,” he said, urging South Asian countries to strengthen cooperation through shared river basin management, early warning systems, climate adaptation financing, joint research and regional ecological dialogue.
He added that such cooperation would not weaken national sovereignty but instead strengthen it in an era of increasing climate stress.
International affairs expert Shahab Enam Khan also said Bangladesh must strengthen its preparations before negotiations conclude.
“MoFA has to do a lot of homework, and data sharing is key. We need to keep in mind that the situation in 1996 and 2026 is not the same. This can’t be seen only from engineering or diplomatic prisms; they should include economists, urban planners, and sociologists in the planning,” he told UNB recently.
