Vikram Mishri in Dhaka to attend meeting with Foreign Secretary.
Amidst the tension in Bangladesh-India bilateral relations, Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Mishri has arrived in Dhaka to attend a meeting with Foreign Secretary Md. Jasim Uddin. He arrived in Dhaka on a one-day visit on a special flight of the Indian Air Force this Monday morning.
This will be the first meeting of high-level officials between Bangladesh and India in Dhaka after the fall of the Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League government. This will be Vikram’s first visit to Bangladesh as India’s Foreign Secretary.
According to the draft schedule, he will hold a private meeting with Foreign Secretary Md. Jasim Uddin before sitting in on the formal meeting.
Diplomatic sources say that the meeting will seek ways to reduce the coldness and tension in the relations between the two countries in the changed circumstances and take them forward. Apart from this, as always, the progress and current status of issues of mutual interest of the two countries will also be reviewed.
However, even if the issue of Sheikh Hasina’s return is not on the agenda of the meeting, Dhaka may inform that her hateful statements in India are complicating the relations between the two countries. The Indian Foreign Secretary will also be reminded of the court’s ban on the dissemination of all kinds of ‘hateful statements’ by Sheikh Hasina in the media and social media.
Sources further said that in Monday’s meeting, ways will be found to come out of the ongoing cold relations between the two countries. In addition, issues of mutual interest of the two countries including trade, border situation, security, sharing of water from common rivers and regional connectivity issues will be discussed. Along with this, the issue of fully opening the Indian visa center in Bangladesh may also be discussed.
An official of the Foreign Ministry said that there has been little visible improvement in relations with India in the four months of the interim government. The government hopes that the ‘dynamic’ relationship will come through the meeting at the level of foreign secretaries of the two countries in Dhaka.
Meanwhile, after participating in the secretary-level meeting, the Indian Foreign Secretary will join the lunch. After that, he will meet with Foreign Advisor Md. Towhid Hossain and Chief Advisor Dr. Muhammad Yunus will pay a courtesy call. However, the schedule for the two courtesy calls has not been finalized yet.
Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Mishri is scheduled to leave Dhaka on Monday night after completing all the formalities.
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