Dhaka, March 4 (Prothom Alo): Indian external affairs minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar arrived in Dhaka on Thursday morning at the invitation of his Bangladesh counterpart AK Abdul Momen.
A special flight of Indian Air Force reached in Dhaka carrying the foreign minister at 10:00am. AK Abdul Momen welcomed Jaishankar at BAF Bashar Base.
Jaishankar arrived in Dhaka on one-day visit to discuss about the forthcoming visit of Indian prime minister Narendra Modi. Modi is scheduled to visit Bangladesh on 26-27 March.
Jaishankar will meet Abdul Momen at State Guest House Padma and also call on prime minister Sheikh Hasina in the afternoon.
He will hold a meeting with a delegation of civil society members at the Indian High Commission in the afternoon as well.
Jaishankar’s visit to Dhaka is followed by the PM-level Virtual Summit held between Bangladesh and India on 17 December 2020 and will also provide an opportunity to take stock of the progress in bilateral relations, said a press release the Indian external affairs ministry issued on Wednesday.
Speaking to Prothom Alo about Jaishankar’s Dhaka visit, foreign minister AK Abdul Momen said Bangladesh would raise issues of extending business and increasing connectivity including train communications. Water sharing issues of all the trans-border rivers including Teesta, border killing issues will also be discussed in the meeting. Besides, issues of loan agreement and speedy implementation of Rampal power plant will be discussed too.
Foreign ministry officials said Indian prime minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to arrive in Bangladesh on 26 March to attend the programmes of golden jubilee of the independence of Bangladesh and the birth centenary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
On the first day of his visit, he will give a speech at the inauguration ceremony of golden jubilee of the independence of Bangladesh and the birth centenary of Bangabandhu in the evening. On the next day, Narendra Modi will pay his respects to Bangabandhu placing wreaths at his grave in Tungipara, Gopalganj. Upon returning to Dhaka at noon, he will take part in a bilateral meeting with prime minister Sheikh Hasina.
Subrahmanyam Jaishankar would return Delhi tonight.
This is his second visit to Dhaka as the exter nal affairs minister of India. Earlier, he visited Bangladesh in August 2019.
