Dhaka will also hand over a relic of Gautam Buddha's hair on Wednesday as a gift to Colombo as a gesture of 'friendship and goodwill.'

The visit will end a long hiatus in high-level bilateral visits. The last visit by a Sri Lankan head of state or the foreign minister was during the Dhaka Saarc Summit in 2005.

Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama will lead the delegation, which will go to Chittagong to receive the hair of Buddha from a Buddhist monastery.

"We (Bangladesh) will mostly talk about trade with a focus on the promising pharmaceutical sector," said a foreign ministry source, adding that Bangladesh has been running a trade-surplus with Sri Lanka for the past three years, a trend most welcome by Dhaka as it runs a deficit with most other South Asian countries.

Currently, Dhaka-Colombo trade stands at around $15 million.

The foreign ministry official also said that the already robust pharmaceutical trade can grow in size further if Sri Lanka can simplify its procedures for foreign companies, as Bangladesh offers some of the cheapest prices.

Mostafa Hassan, an official with SK&F, a leading pharmaceutical exporter to Sri Lanka, told The Daily Star last night that the opportunity for pharmaceutical exports to Sri Lanka is huge and Bangladeshi exporters have hardly tapped even 5 percent of the market.

He also said that even though it is the Bangladeshi exporters who should invest more into the market, the Sri Lankan government could facilitate exporters by improving the registration process, to either expedite it or synchronise Bangldeshi and Sri Lankan pharmaceutical company registration standards.

The foreign ministry official told The Daily Star that apart from trade, other bilateral issues of economic cooperation, civil aviation and fisheries among others will be discussed.

There is a possibility of resuming the Dhaka-Colombo direct flight, that was suspended in 2002, as the Saarc leaders have pledged to link all eight South Asian capitals for 'better connectivity', he added.

Dhaka has already expressed to Colombo that the aviation authorities concerned from both sides should sit to resolve the outstanding issues, which surround Sri Lanka's demands for greater 'freedom rights', sources said.

The foreign ministry official said that the bilateral talks with Foreign Adviser Iftekhar A Chowdhury, to be held tomorrow, will not include the Colombo-backed "Mutual legal Assistance on Criminal Matters," as it is not a bilateral issue.

Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Bogollagama will be accompanied by Mass Media and Information Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa, Cultural Affairs Minister Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, Religious Affairs and Moral Upliftment Minister Pandu Bandaranaike and Minister for Highways TB Ekanayake.

The delegation will have talks with Iftekhar tomorrow at the state guesthouse Padma, and later with the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry. They will also call on Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed.