Jaishankar hands over PM Modi’s invitation to B’desh PM Hasina to visit India

Dhaka, Apr 28 (PTI) External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday called on Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina here and handed over an invitation from her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi to visit New Delhi.

Jaishankar, who arrived here on Thursday on a brief official visit, also held “positive discussions” with his Bangladeshi counterpart AK Abdul Momen. “Thank Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for her warm reception. Conveyed personal greetings of PM @narendramodi. Our bilateral relations are moving from strength to strength under the guidance of the two leaders,” Jaishankar tweeted.

Briefing the media along with Momen, Jaishankar later said that during the talks with Prime Minister Hasina he extended Prime Minister Modi’s invitation to her to visit India at the time of her convenience. “I conveyed (her) that we look forward to her visit to India at a time her convenience,” he said, adding that a number of issues relating to bilateral ties as well as regional and global issues figured during the talks. His visit to Bangladesh is aimed at preparing the grounds for Prime Minister Hasina’s visit to India.

The two countries are expected to fix the date of the 7th Bangladesh-India Joint Consultative Commission (JCC) meeting, which is scheduled to take place in New Delhi. Hasina last visited New Delhi in 2019 to attend the Indian Economic Summit of the World Economic Forum (WEF) when she also had bilateral talks with her Indian counterpart.

Modi, on the other hand, visited Bangladesh on March 26-27 last year at Hasina’s invitation to join golden jubilee celebration of the country’s independence, birth centenary of Bangladesh’s Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the 50th years of establishment of Bangladesh-India diplomatic relations.

President Ram Nath Kovind also paid a state visit to Dhaka from December 15-17 last year at the invitation of his Bangladesh counterpart Abdul Hamid to attend the 50th victory day celebration of Bangladesh.

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