Foreign minister to visit Delhi on 9 April

Before attending the Indian Ocean Conference to be held in Port Louis, the capital of Mauritius, Foreign Minister Khalilur Rahman will be visiting Delhi on 7 and 8 April.

This will be the first visit by a Bangladeshi minister to Delhi after the BNP government was formed in February under the leadership of Prime Minister Tarique Rahman.

Diplomatic sources from Dhaka and Delhi confirmed to Prothom Alo on Friday about the upcoming visit of the Foreign Minister to New Delhi.

According to these sources, on the first day of the Delhi visit, discussions between Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar and Foreign Minister Khalilur Rahman may take place.

Additionally, coordination is ongoing for Khalilur Rahman to meet with several other important representatives of the Indian government.

A source from Dhaka has informed that Prime Minister's Foreign Affairs Advisor Humayun Kabir will accompany the Foreign Minister on his Delhi visit.

It has been reported that official communication has begun between Dhaka and Delhi about potential discussions between Foreign Minister Khalilur Rahman and India's National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, and Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri during the visit.

Diplomatic observers have indicated that Delhi has a positive attitude towards the discussion between the foreign ministers of the two neighbouring countries and Khalilur Rahman's meeting with key representatives of the Indian government.

After being sworn in as Bangladesh's new Prime Minister on 17 February, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi sent a letter congratulating Tarique Rahman.

Narendra Modi conveyed his heartfelt congratulations to Bangladesh's newly elected Prime Minister Tarique Rahman and expressed a desire to work together for the welfare of the peoples of both countries.

By attending the swearing-in ceremony of Bangladesh’s new government, India's Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla handed over the message of congratulations from India's Prime Minister to Bangladesh's newly elected Prime Minister.

By sending a delegation to the swearing-in ceremony, the Indian government signaled a move forward in relations with Bangladesh's new government, ending 18 months of bitterness.

According to diplomatic observers, the courtesy meeting between Indian Foreign Minister Jaishankar and Bangladesh's High Commissioner to Delhi, M Riaz Hamidullah, on 20 March strengthened the indication of advancing relations.

Riaz Hamidullah joined as the High Commissioner in Delhi in May last year during the interim government. However, due to tensions with the interim government led by Professor Muhammad Yunus, the High Commissioner had to wait nine months to have a courtesy meeting with India’s Foreign Minister.

After the meeting on 20 March in Delhi, Indian Foreign Minister Jaishankar wrote in his post on ''X'': ‘Met with Bangladesh's High Commissioner M Riaz Hamidullah. The focus of our discussion was on advancing bilateral relations.’

Diplomatic sources have said that the visit of Foreign Minister Khalilur Rahman to Delhi was roughly settled within a few days of the meeting on 20 March.