Bangladesh PM Hasina to hold bilateral talks with PM Modi next week in India

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will pay a State Visit to India next week to hold bilateral talks with her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Friday.

She will also call on President Droupadi Murmu and Vice President Jagdeep Dhankar. During her visit, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will also meet External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar.

"During her visit, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will call on Hon'ble President of India, Smt Droupadi Murmu and Hon'ble Vice President of India, Shri Jagdeep Dhankar and hold bilateral consultations with Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. External Affairs Minister Dr S. Jaishankar will call on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina," MEA said.

Sheikh Hasina is also likely to visit Ajmer, the ministry added.

The Bangladesh Prime Minister last visited New Delhi in October 2019. In recent years, both sides have sustained a high level of engagement, including at the highest level.

The forthcoming visit of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will further strengthen the multifaceted relationship between the two countries based on strong historical and cultural ties and mutual trust and understanding, the MEA said.

The India-Bangladesh relationship is an important element of India's "Neighbourhood First" policy.

Last year was of special significance as both countries celebrated 50 years of diplomatic relations, five decades of Bangladesh's independence and the birth centenary of its Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

Earlier, at the invitation of Bangladesh PM, Prime Minister Modi paid a State Visit to Bangladesh in March 2021 as Chief Guest for the celebrations of the Golden Jubilee of the Independence of Bangladesh in which India had played a significant role.

This was the first foreign visit of the Prime Minister since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020.

During that visit, both the Prime Ministers inaugurated the 'MitaliExpress'- passenger train service on the Dhaka-New JalpaiguriDhaka route through the Chilahati-Haldibari rail link.

Despite Covid-19-related disruptions, bilateral trade grew at an unprecedented rate of 14 per cent from USD 9.46 billion in FY 2019-20 to USD 10.78 billion in FY 2020-21, according to MEA.

Other areas including defence, connectivity, and development cooperation also received a boost.

Cooperation between the two countries to combat the pandemic continued throughout 2021. India gifted 3.3 million Covishield vaccines to Bangladesh to assist in its ongoing effort to fight the pandemic. This was the largest tranche of Made-in-India Covid-19 vaccines gifted to any country by India.

( With inputs from ANI )

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