Speaking at a conference organised by South Asian Free Media Association (SAFMA) here today, Mukherjee said: "To improve the relations between India and Bangladesh, connectivity between the two countries has to be strengthened because that is how the interaction between people of the two countries could increase."

Held at the Council Chamber of West Bengal Assembly, the function was also attended by West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Assembly Speaker Hasim Abdul Halim.

Mukherjee said that India has taken several initiatives in this direction, which include increasing the number of trains between the two countries, extending the Dhaka-Kolkata railway connection to Agartala, establishing a railway link between Kolkata and Hanoi in Vietnam via Bangladesh, revival of a steamer service between Kolkata and Guwahati through Bangladesh, revival of the road link between Kolkata and Yangon — the capital of Myanmar.

He said a psychological barrier exists between the two countries which requires to be removed for improving bilateral relations.

The chief minister also expressed similar sentiments and quoted a poem from Sukanta Bhattacharya's works to say that all mistrust and suspicion in the minds of the people of the two countries have to be removed.

"Bangladesh has a treasure trove in areas like natural resources and manpower — so has India. If we can join hands it will work wonders for both countries. We have the same language and culture and we should have more interaction. Why can't both countries jointly organise Rabindrajayanti in Kolkata and Nazruljayanti in Dhaka?" asked the chief minister.