Bangladesh PM to visit India in July: Jaishankar to finalise details

New Delhi: Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is likely to visit India early in July this year. According to highly placed sources, Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is travelling to Dhaka for a one-day visit on April 28, carrying an invitation from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to his Bangladeshi counterpart. Details of her schedule in India are likely to be finalized, and formalized, during Jaishankar’s meeting with Prime Minister Hasina.
Before the visit of the Bangladesh Prime Minister, a meeting of the Joint Consultative Commission will be held in New Delhi in the last week of May. The two foreign ministers of both countries will co-chair the JCC meeting. EAM Jaishankar and Bangladesh Foreign Minister A K Abdul Momen will also meet on the sidelines of an India-Bangladesh friendship dialogue in Guwahati, the capital of Assam, in June.
Indian Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla also spoke at length about the growing relationship between India and Bangladesh in the future. He was speaking on Monday at the Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi, at an awards ceremony for a competition to design the logo and backdrop for the Maitree Diwas (Friendship Day) celebrations between both countries, to commemorate 50 years of their bilateral diplomatic ties, in 18 different countries across the world.
Shringla said, “Today, the India and Bangladesh relationship is enjoying a shonali adhaya (golden chapter). And our plan is to take it to the next level in the coming days. The momentum we have achieved in the relationship is one we must continue to maintain for the benefit of the people of both countries,” Shringla said.
The High Commissioner of Bangladesh, Md Imran, elaborated on the nature and content of the mutual relationship. Senior officials and diplomats of different countries were present at the awards ceremony. Also present at the event was the recently appointed Professor for Delhi University’s prestigious ‘Bangabandhu chair,’ former Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haq. A total of seven Indian graphics students received the award for the chosen design today.
Shringla delivered part of his address in Bengali, as he recounted how Bangla and Indian soldiers and ‘mukti jodhhas’ (freedom fighters) shed blood together on the battlefield for the liberation of Bangladesh. He spoke about increased connectivity between the two countries and proudly announced that “we are waiting to start the first passenger train from Dhaka to my home town Siliguri soon.” He also said that, increasingly, waterways are being used for transportation of goods from Bangladesh to Varanasi and Siliguri to Parbatipur for the diesel ‘Maitree’ pipeline to be inaugurated soon. Power connectivity is another area of increasing mutual cooperation and the ground has been prepared for importing hydro-electric power from Nepal and Bhutan to Bangladesh.
High Commissioner Imran said India and Bangladesh have demonstrated what is a model relationship between two neighbors.

—INDIA NEWS STREAM