Jaishankar due in Dhaka Thursday

Indian external affairs minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar will pay an official visit to Dhaka on 4 March (Thursday) at the invitation of his Bangladesh counterpart AK Abdul Momen.

Indian external affairs ministry made the disclosure in a press release on Wednesday.

It said during his visit, Jaishankar will meet Abdul Momen and also call on prime minister Sheikh Hasina.

Jaishankar’s visit to Dhaka follows on the PM-level Virtual Summit held between Bangladesh and India on 17 December 2020 and will also provide an opportunity to take stock of the progress in bilateral relations, said the press release.

UNB adds, earlier state minister for foreign affairs M Shahriar Alam told newspersons that Jaishankar is scheduled to arrive in Dhaka on 4 March on a brief visit to discuss about the forthcoming visit of Indian prime minister Narendra Modi

Modi's planned visit to Bangladesh on 26-27 March will be his first visit abroad in more than a year mainly because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bangladesh is set to celebrate the 50th anniversary of independence and 50 years of Bangladesh-India diplomatic relations this year.