India and Bangladesh explore fresh dates for PM Rahman’s Delhi visit
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "India and Bangladesh explore fresh dates for PM Rahman’s Delhi visit")
Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Rahman Photograph: (ANI)
No final dates have been locked in so far. Officials from the two countries are looking at domestic political calendars and the need for substantive outcomes from Rahman's India visit.
India and Bangladesh are discussing new dates for Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s first official visit to New Delhi, with one window around 21 August and another in the first week of September under active consideration, people in the know of the developments have said.
The invitation was first extended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a telephone conversation after Rahman’s February election victory. New Delhi later renewed the offer in Rahman’s capacity as BIMSTEC chair, inviting him to attend the BRICS Summit in Delhi in September.
No final dates have been locked in so far. Officials from the two countries are looking at domestic political calendars and the need for substantive outcomes from Rahman's India visit. The MEA has maintained that the invitation remains open and that India values a stable, productive partnership with Bangladesh.
This week has seen intense diplomatic activity aimed at stabilising relations. On 10 August, India’s High Commissioner to Bangladesh, Dinesh Trivedi, called on Prime Minister Rahman and separately met the home minister in Dhaka. Concurrently, the chief of India’s Research and Analysis Wing, Parag Jain, was in the Bangladeshi capital for consultations. The following day, High Commissioner Trivedi returned to Delhi and briefed PM Modi. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) publicly restated the invitation for Rahman to participate in the BRICS summit.
Relations between the two neighbours have seen a focus on resetting since a new government took charge in Bangladesh earlier this year. Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Trivedi earlier this month also met the country's Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Iqbal Hassan Mahmood to discuss ways of strengthening bilateral cooperation in the power and energy sectors. During the meeting, Dhaka sought more diesel from India, Bangladeshi media reports said.
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The flurry of contacts comes against a backdrop of areas of friction as well. Dhaka has expressed "outrage" over the continued presence in India of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina and a virtual press conference she held on 5 August. In a strongly worded statement, the Bangladesh government condemned the event and the platform provided to Hasina. The MEA responded by distancing itself from the remarks made during the press conference, stating that India did not endorse the comments.
