Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee will be reaching Dhaka later this afternoon on a short four hour visit during which India and Bangladesh will sign a $ 1 billion line of credit agreement. During his stay in Dhaka he would call on Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and also hold discussions with the Bangladesh Finance Minister A M A Muhith and Foreign Minister Dr Dipu Moni. The $ 1-billion credit agreement will be signed between the Exim Bank of India and the Economic Relation’s division of Bangladesh. The fund will be used by Bangladesh for development projects related to railways, bus transport, dredging and building of infrastructure. Mukherjee’s visit to Dhaka will put economic ties between the two countries on fast track with the signing of the agreement. This is the highest financial assistance provided to any country by India and reflects India’s support to development projects in Bangladesh. The fund will be used by Bangladesh for 14 projects related to development of railway infrastructure, supply of Broad Gauge locomotives and passenger coaches, purchase of buses, upgrading of infrastructure at Ashuganj river port, and dredging projects. The loan will also be used to fund the setting up of the interconnecting power grid between India and Bangladesh and also purchase of equipment to upgrade the Bangladesh Standards testing institute. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is the senior most minister from India to visit Dhaka after the Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit to Delhi and the two sides are likely review the progress made in the implementation of the various projects agreed to in the Joint statement issued during the visit in January this year