DHAKA, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- Bangladesh and India are set to sign two agreements on bilateral trade and investment promotion and protection soon, the Indian high commissioner in Dhaka said on Wednesday.

    After meetings with Bangladesh's Foreign Minister Dipu Moni and State Minister Hassan Mahmud, Indian High Commissioner Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty told reporters here that the agreements are likely to be signed during Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee's visit to Dhaka on Feb. 8-9.

    Pinak said the three-year bilateral trade agreement between the two countries will expire in March this year and it would be renewed.

    Secondly, he said the investment promotion and protection agreement would be required since there is a trend that the investment flow will take place from either side.

    Pinak also said the Indian side expects greater cooperation with Bangladesh in security matter to jointly tackle terrorism and insurgency.

    Besides, he said trade and economic issues would figure at the talks as the Indian minister will call on Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and hold a meeting with his counterpart.

    He said trade facilitation; development of infrastructure for increased volume of trade and measures to reduce the trade imbalance would be discussed.

    Presently, Bangladesh faces trade deficit of more than 4 billion U.S. dollars with neighboring India.