Foreign minister arrives in Delhi

Foreign minister Khalilur Rahman reached in Delhi on Tuesday afternoon, where he was received by B Shyam, head of the Bangladesh–Myanmar Division at India’s Ministry of External Affairs.

Carrying a message of advancing long-term relations based on mutual respect and trust, the foreign minister reached Delhi in the afternoon.

On the first day of his “goodwill visit,” he met India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval in the evening, followed by a dinner engagement.

On the second day of the visit, Wednesday, Foreign Minister Khalilur Rahman is scheduled to hold talks with India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar at noon.

The meeting at the Ministry of External Affairs will last about an hour, including a brief one-on-one discussion between the two ministers. Later in the afternoon, he is also expected to pay a courtesy call on India’s Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri.

While Bangladesh’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has described the visit as a “goodwill visit,” India’s Ministry of External Affairs has termed it an “official visit.”

In a statement, the Indian ministry outlined the foreign minister’s schedule, mentioning meetings with S Jaishankar, as well as India’s Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and Hardeep Singh Puri. However, it did not mention the meeting with the National Security Adviser held on the first day.

Meanwhile, a diplomatic source in Dhaka told Prothom Alo in the evening that the planned meeting between Khalilur Rahman and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal will not take place.

Earlier in the day, Foreign Ministry spokesperson SM Mahbubul Alam told the media that the foreign minister will attend the Indian Ocean Conference in Mauritius from 10 to 12 April.

He will make a stopover in Delhi en route, where he is expected to hold courtesy meetings with India’s External Affairs Minister, National Security Adviser, and the Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas.

The spokesperson said the meetings will emphasise strengthening bilateral relations based on mutual respect, trust, and shared interests. The visit is expected to lay an important foundation for making cooperation between Bangladesh and India more productive and sustainable in the future.

It may be noted that the Prime Minister’s Adviser on Foreign Affairs, Humayun Kabir, is accompanying the foreign minister on his visit to India and Mauritius for the Indian Ocean Conference.