PM's India visit end of January
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will pay her proposed state visit to India at the end of January next year when New Delhi will give her “a very warm welcome.”
According to sources in the foreign ministry, officials of both India and Bangladesh had discussed a tentative schedule, December 18-19.
But the Indian government is now planning to invite Hasina to India's Republic Day parade on January 26 as the chief guest, a source in the Prime Minister's Office in Bangladesh told The Daily Star.
“There is no question of postponement or deferring of Sheikh Hasina's visit when dates have not yet been finalised or officially announced,” he said yesterday.
A senior diplomat in New Delhi also hinted that Hasina will be given special honour during her upcoming India visit.
French President Francois Hollande was this year's chief guest of India's Republic Day parade while US President Barak Obama was in 2015, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2014 and Russian President Vladimir Putin received the honour in 2007.
“Now this is Sheikh Hasina's turn to be accorded such honour….India wants to take its relations with Bangladesh to a new height and turn it into a strategic one from 2017,” said the Indian diplomat who preferred not to be named.
India has been holding the annual pageant since 1950.
As a tradition, a grand parade is held in New Delhi on the Republic Day. The event starts with the India's prime minister laying a wreath at the Amar Jawan Jyoti at India Gate in remembering the soldiers who sacrificed their lives for their country.
India's president takes the military salute during the parade and a foreign head of state/government is the president's chief guest.
Regarding Hasina's visit, Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup told reporters in New Delhi yesterday, “I can assure that the Bangladesh prime minister will be given an extremely warm welcome in India.”
On the Republic Day, large military parades are held in other state capitals of India as well. Representatives of the Indian Army, Navy and Air Force and traditional dance troupes take part in the parades.
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