Prime Minister Narendra Modi set to hold a virtual summit with Bangladesh PM Sheik Hasina, visit Dhaka one year from now
Bangladesh is set to be among the first foreign destinations visited by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the result of the Covid-19 flare-up, as he is relied upon to partake in festivities stamping 50 years of the nation’s independence next March.
The Indian PM has acknowledged the Bangladesh government’s invitation to participate in the festivals to be held in Dhaka on March 26. The visit will be gone before by a virtual summit between Modi and his Bangladeshi partner Sheik Hasina in mid-December.
“We invited the Indian prime minister to visit Bangladesh on March 26 next year. It was accepted,” Bangladesh foreign minister AK Abdul Momen told reporters in Dhaka on Sunday.
“We would love to see Prime Minister Modi join the celebrations marking the 50th anniversary of our independence. Our victory means India’s victory as well,” he added.
Momen said the two PMs were required to hold a virtual summit one month from now. India had proposed December 16 as the date for the meeting, however individuals acquainted with improvements said on state of anonymity it could be held later as Bangladeshi leaders would be engrossed with the Victory Day festivities on that day.
There was no official word from the Indian side on either the summit or Modi’s visit to Bangladesh however individuals refered to above said the two events were on the plan.
Modi made his last foreign visit to Brazil in November 2019 to go to a summit of the Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa (Brics) grouping. Foreign travel by the Indian leadership has been seriously abridged because of Covid-19-related limitations.
External affairs minister S Jaishankar has made a trip just to Iran and Russia, where he went to a meeting of foreign ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), in September and to Japan this month for a meeting of the Quadrilateral Security Dialog to Quad.
An arranged visit by Modi to Bangladesh in March this year, when he was to take an interest in events denoting the birth centenary of Sheik Mujibur Rahman, was put off after Dhaka conceded the festivals due to the pandemic.
India has made a few strides as of late to reinforce its binds with Bangladesh after they were hit by a few aggravations, for example, the discussion over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, a year ago. Foreign secretary Harsh Shringla visited Bangladesh in August and conveyed an individual message from Modi to Hasina.
Momen, who addressed the media in the wake of meeting India’s new emissary Vikram Doraiswami, said an air bubble between the different sides will begin soon. In any case, he said Dhaka needs New Delhi to ease limitations on movement by street and railroads as these modes were favored by Bangladeshi explorers.
Doraiswami’s posting in Dhaka is among the measures taken by New Delhi to reinforce two-sided relations as he is viewed as an old Bangladesh hand.
Vivek Gupta is a writer for timesofchennai.com. Writing has always been his passion. He joined Times of Chennai after getting a Master’s Degree in creative writing at University in Tamil Nadu. He writes some articles, essays. Now he connecting the Times of Chennai.
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