FS: PM's separate bilateral visit to India likely to see signing of deals, MoUs

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will pay a full-fledged bilateral visit to New Delhi, India separately at a mutually convenient time which is likely to see signing of a number of agreements and MoUs and some important announcements.

“We are working on a separate visit. The current one is more of a ceremonial visit, marking a special occasion. We will work on a schedule later,” Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen said while talking to a small group of reporters on the sidelines of a function on Thursday night.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is scheduled to leave for New Delhi on Saturday to attend her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi’s swearing-in at his invitation.

Initially, the ceremony was scheduled to take place on Saturday and now it will be held on Sunday.

“The main inauguration will be held on Sunday evening and our prime minister is likely to reach New Delhi on Saturday afternoon. She will join the main inauguration,” said the foreign secretary.

World leaders including Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe and Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal are set to attend the function, which will record a presence of over 8,000 dignitaries.

Responding to a question, the foreign secretary said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is likely to have tete-a-tete with the leaders including Narendra Modi.

He said during the bilateral visit which will take place separately later the two countries are scheduled to sign a number of MoUs and agreements. “There is an issue of making announcement on some areas of cooperation. We will work on that.”

Masud said there is a new government in Bangladesh and a new government will be formed in India. “There will be continuity of the relations and we expect to see some new initiatives in our relations.”

Modi will take oath as the prime minister of India for the historic third term in a row on Sunday after his BJP-led NDA alliance won 293 seats in the elections for 543-member Lok Sabha, the lower house of Indian parliament.

Earlier, Modi invited Hasina to attend the swearing-in ceremony of his government, and she accepted the invitation.

Modi has thanked PM Hasina for her warm wishes following his election victory.
PM Hasina was among the first foreign leaders to congratulate Modi, reflecting the warmth and personal rapport between the two leaders.

"India and Bangladesh share historic relations, which have seen unprecedented growth in the last decade," Modi said.

In a message shared through X, Modi said he looks forward to working together to further strengthen the people-centric partnership between Bangladesh and India.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina congratulated Narendra Modi on the resounding victory of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Lok Sabha election.

"As the leader of the largest democracy in the world, you carry the hopes and aspirations of the people of India," she said.

Modi received a congratulatory telephone call from Sheikh Hasina for the victory of NDA, according to the Press Information Bureau of India.

The two leaders pledged to continue working together to further deepen the historic and close ties under the renewed mandate towards achieving Viksit Bharat 2047 and Smart Bangladesh 2041.

They acknowledged the significant improvements achieved in the lives of the people of both countries in the last decade and looked forward to further enhancing the transformative relationship across all domains that include economic and development partnership, energy security, connectivity including digital linkages and people-to-people contacts among others.

Source: UNB