Indian FM may visit this month
Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj is expected to visit Bangladesh at the end of this month, diplomatic source told The Daily Star yesterday.
She would carry a letter from Prime Minister Narendra Modi inviting his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina to visit India between October and January next year, the sources said.
Hasina had visited New Delhi in January 2010 while immediate past Indian PM Manmohan Singh had been in Dhaka in September 2011.
As Modi has not chosen Bangladesh for his first official visit abroad, he is sending Sushma to convey a special message that the BJP government would work closely with the Awami League government, according to the sources.
An Indian diplomat in Dhaka said Indian foreign policy was good for regional cooperation. The policy was drafted by the central government in the interest of India, no matter which party was in power. The upcoming visit of Sushma would be very important and constructive, added the official.
There was no confirmation about the schedule of the minister's visit as officials in Dhaka and New Delhi said they have just opened initial discussion to that end.
The diplomatic circle in Dhaka said the visit would give a big push towards Dhaka-New Delhi fresh engagement.
Modi and Hasina are likely to meet at least twice at two major events this year -- the United Nations General Assembly in September and the Saarc Summit in Kathmandu in November.
Official sources said during her visit to Dhaka, Sushma would call on President Abdul Hamid, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and hold official talks with her Bangladesh counterpart AH Mahmood Ali.
Dhaka would insist on taking forward the long pending Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) and Teesta river water sharing deal.
Asked about the date of the Indian minister's visit, a senior official at the foreign ministry yesterday told The Daily Star that they had been talking about June 26 but were waiting for confirmation.
“It is really at the very initial stage … nothing is concrete and it is absolutely at the planning stage,” a diplomat at the High Commission of India told The Daily Star yesterday.
Our New Delhi correspondent reported that two sets of dates were being considered, June 25-27 and June 26-28.
This could be Sushma's first foreign visit alone since taking over the external affairs ministry on May 27, a day after she was sworn in following Bharatiya Janata Party's landslide victory in parliamentary elections.
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