New Delhi, Mar 7 (Reporter) Amid reports that at least 11 of the 40 projects listed under three Indian Lines of Credit (LoC) for Bangladesh are to be removed from the loan scheme, India today said that the recent security situation and long-standing local issues have affected the pace of implementation of some of the projects. MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, addressing a media briefing, referring to the bilateral Lines of Credit review meeting held in Dhaka on March 5-6, said: “Development cooperation is a priority area of our relations with the people of Bangladesh. The recent security situation and long-standing local issues have affected the pace of implementation of some of these projects. “The official discussions therefore focused on rationalising the project portfolio and executing mutually agreed projects in a time bound manner. Subject to obtaining the committed support and pending clearances from the Bangladesh side, we plan to take these projects forward.” According to Bangladesh media reports, at least 11 of the 40 projects currently listed under the three Indian Lines of Credit (LoC) are set to be removed from the loan scheme. This decision comes as projects in the approval stage or those approved but not yet under construction will be excluded. Consequently, the total LoC size will decrease from $7.34 billion to $4.68 billion, according to officials from the Economic Relations Division (ERD) of Bangladesh. The agreement was reached during a bilateral LoC review meeting held on March 5-6 at the ERD office in Dhaka. Mirana Mahrukh, Additional Secretary of ERD, and Suja K. Menon, Director for Credit Lines at India's Ministry of External Affairs, led their respective delegations...////...