Bangladesh PM Hasina begins state visit to India on Friday

New Delhi, Jun 20 (PTI) Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will pay a two-day state visit to India beginning Friday to further expand the already close ties between the two countries.

It will be the first incoming bilateral state visit by a foreign leader after the formation of the new government in India following the Lok Sabha elections.

Hasina was among seven top leaders from India’s neighbourhood and the Indian Ocean region who attended the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Union council of ministers at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on June 9.

Modi and Hasina are scheduled to hold wide-ranging talks on Saturday during which both sides are likely to firm up a raft of agreements providing for cooperation in several sectors.

“At the invitation of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina will pay a state visit to India on June 21 and 22,” the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said.

“This will be the first incoming bilateral state visit after the formation of the government in India following the 18th Lok Sabha elections,” it said.

Apart from holding bilateral consultations with Modi, the visiting leader is scheduled to call-on President Droupadi Murmu and Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, the MEA said in a statement.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is scheduled to call on Hasina on Friday evening.

The talks between the two prime ministers are expected to focus on taking the bilateral ties to new heights, said a source.

The overall strategic ties between India and Bangladesh have been on an upswing in the last few years.

Bangladesh is an important partner for India under its “Neighbourhood First” policy and the cooperation extends to areas of security, trade, commerce, energy, connectivity, science and technology, defence and maritime affairs among others.

The achievements in the connectivity sector included the inauguration of the Maitri Setu bridge over river Feni in Tripura and the rollout of the Chilahati-Haldibari rail link.

Bangladesh is India’s largest development partner with nearly one-fourth of New Delhi’s commitment under the Line of Credit has been made to that country.

Bangladesh is India’s biggest trading partner in South Asia and India is the second biggest trading partner of Bangladesh in Asia.

India is Bangladesh’s largest export destination in Asia, with approximately USD 2 billion of Bangladeshi exports to India in 2022-23.

In 2022-23, the total bilateral trade has been reported as USD 15.9 billion.