Date to be fixed after his return from China

Although the dates of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Bangladesh are yet to be finalised, officials of the two countries are preparing to organise the visit in the first week of next month.

“Till now, June 6-7 is being accepted [as the dates of the visit] by Dhaka as proposed by New Delhi and preparations are underway according to that,” a highly-placed diplomatic source in Dhaka told The Daily Star yesterday.

However, another diplomatic source in New Delhi yesterday told this correspondent over the phone that “it [the visit] would be of 36 hours and could take place between June 5 and 7.”

“Actually the proposed dates of the visit have not been discussed with Prime Minister Modi. It will be discussed and finalised after his return to India from his ongoing tri-nation visit to China, Mongolia and Korea from May 14-19,” he added.

The Indian diplomat said, “We are taking views and ideas on what Dhaka has planned about the visit.”

Asked about the possibility of signing the Teesta Water Sharing Agreement during the visit, he said the deal needed “a little more time” to have some groundwork done.

“The Teesta agreement which was prepared in September 2011 has to be modified. Technical committees of India and Bangladesh will start meeting soon to carry out some modifications,” he added.

According to diplomatic sources in Dhaka and New Delhi, Modi wants to work on a road map to upgrade economic relations with Dhaka and assist Bangladesh in achieving a higher economic growth.

The sources said following the ratification of long-pending Indo-Bangla Land Boundary Agreement in Indian parliament, opportunities had emerged for preparing new grounds for enhancing bilateral ties, especially in the economic sector.

“If such an old issue can be settled, there cannot be any barrier to the way of bolstering ties in the days to come,” said a senior official at Bangladesh foreign ministry.