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India offers $5 billion credit line to Bangladesh for projects, defence

MUMBAI (Reuters) - India offered a $4.5 billion (3.63 billion pound) line of credit to neighbouring Bangladesh on Saturday to help it implement projects in priority areas such as the energy sector, and a separate $500 million credit line to support defence related procurements. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi made the announcements after a meeting with Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who is on a state visit to India. "We want to build cooperation in new areas, especially some high-technology areas, that have a deeper connect with the youth in both our societies," Modi said in a speech. "These would include working in the fields of electronics, information technology, cyber security, space exploration, civil nuclear energy, and other areas," he said. The two sides also agreed on close cooperation between their armed forces, according to the speech released by the Indian government. (Reporting by Devidutta Tripathy; editing by Jason Neely)