New Delhi, September 5
Visiting Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who arrived here on Monday for four-day visit, met External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to discuss the entire gamut of the bilateral relationship.
The meeting came a day ahead of formal delegation-level talks between the Bangladesh PM and her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi at Hyderabad House on Tuesday when boosting cooperation in areas of defence, trade, energy, connectivity and river water sharing are expected to dominate their conversation.
Jaishankar later said the warmth and frequency of the leadership level contact between the two countries is a testimony to the close neighbourly partnership.
Earlier in the day after her arrival, Hasina offered prayers at the shrine of Sufi Saint Nizamuddin Aulia. She will also offer prayers at Khwaja Gharib Nawaz Dargah at Ajmer on the last day of her visit to India on Thursday.
The Bangladesh PM was received at the Palam Airforce Station by Minister of State for Railways Darshana Zardosh along with High Commissioner of India to Bangladesh Vikram Doraiswami and Bangladesh High Commissioner to India Md. Imran.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will visit Rajghat to lay a wreath on the Samadhi of Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat. She will hold bilateral discussion at the summit level with Prime Minister Narendra Modi followed by signing of MoUs and agreements.
Hasina is also scheduled to call on President Droupadi Murmu and Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Tuesday.
The visit is seen as significant amid the Ukraine crisis, global economic downturn, and ongoing pandemic. Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen did not accompany Hasina citing “illness”.
This was the first official engagement of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in Delhi during her state visit that started on Monday, September 5.
In an interview before leaving for Delhi, Hasina called India a tested friend and praised PM Modi for evacuating Bangladeshi students stuck in Ukraine and also for providing vaccines to fight the Covid pandemic. She also wanted the long standing water-sharing dispute to be resolved to ease the problems faced by Bangladeshis. “We found that PM Modi is very eager to solve this but the problem is in your country. We share only Ganges water but we have 54 other rivers,” she said.
