<span style="color: #222222;">The 19th India-Bangladesh Line of Credit (LOC) review meeting was held in Dhaka on 27-28 October. The meeting reviewed progress of 43 projects being taken up for implementation under the Government of India Lines of Credit (LOCs) extended to Bangladesh.<br />'' <br />'' The review meeting identified the existing issues with project implementation and their possible resolution mechanisms. Detailed timelines were determined for all steps involved in project implementation. India and Bangladesh agreed that the LOC review mechanism is an ideal platform to monitor the progress of projects, understand and remove procedural bottlenecks and ensure timely implementation.<br />'' <br />'' Bangladesh is the largest development partner under India's LOC programme, with four LOCs worth USD 7.862 billion extended to it for undertaking infrastructure development projects in a wide array of sectors. Approximately, USD 865 million has already been disbursed out of the total LOC till date.<br />'' <br />'' Under the first LOC of USD 862 million, 12 out of 15 projects have already been completed and 3 projects are under execution. Under the second LOC of USD 2 billion, 2 projects are already complete and the other projects are under various stages of implementation. Under the third LOC of USD 4.5 billion, 1 project has reached execution stage, while the other projects are under various stages of DPP finalisation and tendering.<br />'' <br />'' In the last three year, more than USD 990.85 million worth of contracts under the LOCs have been awarded. Another USD 325.58 million will be finalized within the next few months. This will enhance the utilization rate of LOCs significantly in the near future, said the press release issued by the High Commission of India in Bangladesh.<br />'' <br />'' There is considerable improvement in the speed of projects reaching execution/tendering stage which has been made possible with active cooperation of the project-executing agencies of both sides.<br />'' <br />''<br />''It was agreed that the 20th Bilateral LOC Review Meeting would be held in Delhi in April 2022.</span>