President Pranab Mukherjee today conveyed to the top Bangladesh leadership India's commitment to an early conclusion of Teesta river water-sharing deal and implementing the land boundary agreement as he sought to give a substantive content to bilateral ties on his maiden overseas visit since assuming the top constitutional post last year.

During his nearly half-an-hour one-on-one meeting with Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and later delegation- level talks, Mukherjee articulated India's determination for early signing of the Teesta river water-sharing agreement which had run aground following West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's strong opposition to it in September, 2011.

Earlier, Mukherjee, 77, on his first foreign visit as President, received red carpet welcome at the airport. Four Bangladeshi air force jets escorted as the special Air India plane entered the country's airspace carrying the president.

President Zillur Rahman received him at the VVIP lounge of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport. A 21-gun salute heralded his arrived as he disembarked from the aircraft. He was given a guard of honour and the military band played the national anthems of both the countries.

However, Mukherjee's three-day state visit came under a shadow as opposition leader Khaleda Zia cancelled her meeting with him amidst a general strike by Jamaat-e-Islami to protest conviction of its three top leaders for 1971 war crimes. The violence following latest verdict has claimed nearly 80 lives.

Briefing the media about the Mukherjee-Hasina talks, Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai said that the President conveyed India's resolve to work out a "fair, reasonable and equitable" sharing of Teesta water.

He said there was a need for an agreement among all stake-holders, including the West Bengal government, on the Teesta issue.

The President, according to Mathai, told the Bangladeshi leaders, who also included Foreign Minister Dipu Moni and Finance Minister A M A Muhith, that he has asked the Indian government to prepare a constitution amendment bill for parliamentary approval to operationalise the 1974 land boundary agreement and exchange of 161 adversely-held enclaves, which has been a sticking point in bilateral ties for decades.

Bangladesh Parliament has approved the bill in 1974.

Asked if the presence of Mamata's close aide and Trinamool Congress MP Mukul Roy in Mukherjee's talks with Hasina was indicative of the West Bengal Chief Minister’s softening of stand on Teesta deal, Mathai said, "there was a general consensus that India's relations with Bangladesh had to be built on people-to-people contacts, going beyond the government-to-government level".

Bangladesh has been pressing for an early deal on Teesta as Hasina government faces fresh parliamentary elections later this year and wants to showcase the deal to voters as one of the major foreign policy achievements.

Talking separately to reporters, Bangladesh Foreign Minister Moni said the Indian President expressed the optimism that his government will introduce and pass a constitutional amendment bill in the current budget session of parliament to give effect to the provisions of the Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) with Bangladesh.

"He (Pranab) himself said that the bill will be placed and expressed his belief that it would be passed in both the houses (Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha) in this session," Moni told reporters after calling on the Indian president.

"We are hoping that the Teesta agreement would be signed as soon as possible", the Foreign Minister said.

Mathai said during the meeting both sides noted that there has been significant transformation in relations between India and Bangladesh in the last few years.

They recognised the importance of connectivity between the two countries, a key area of concern for India as far as transit is concerned to its northeastern states from the mainland.

The two countries had a detailed discussion on utilization of India's USD one billion line of credit to Bangladesh and noted that 14 projects worth USD 800 million have been finalised, a majority of them in rail and road transport sectors.