President goes to India Thursday

President Abdul Hamid is going to India on Thursday on a five-day tour to join the founding ceremony of International Solar Alliance (ISA).

Hamid will attend the programme at Cultural Centre of Presidential Building in New Delhi on March 11, his Press Secretary Md Joynal Abedin told the news agency yesterday.

The ISA is an alliance of over 121 countries, mostly the sunshine ones which lie either completely or partly between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn.

ISA's activities began in 2015 with the initiative of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former French President Francois Hollande to increase the use of solar energy in bid to reduce pressure on fossil fuels. ISA is headquartered in Gurgaon, India's Haryana state. Before going to New Delhi, Joynal Abedin said President Hamid will visit various places of the Indian state of Meghalaya, where he stayed during the 1971 Liberation War. “The president will go to New Delhi from Meghalaya via Guwahati of Assam,” he added. Hamid is expected to return home on March 12.

Abdul Hamid performed as a sub-sector commander in the training camp of freedom fighters at Balat of Meghalaya during the war.

He received the highest civilian honor “Swadhinata Padak” in 2013 for his contributions to the Liberation War.

Meanwhile, Indian High Commissioner in Dhaka Harsh Vardhan Shringla met the president at Bangabhaban in the afternoon and discussed issues relating to mutual interests of the two countries, said the press secretary.