Indian foreign secretary Nirupama Rao will pay a two-day visit to Bangladesh from tomorrow, with preparations for premier Sheikh Hasina's planned India tour next month high on the agenda.
Indian foreign secretary Nirupama Rao will pay a two-day visit to Bangladesh from tomorrow, with preparations for premier Sheikh Hasina's planned India tour next month high on the agenda.
"She is mainly coming to Dhaka at the invitation of Bangladesh's foreign secretary Mjarul Quayes for preparatory talks ahead of the prime minister's visit," a foreign ministry spokesman told PTI here.
An Indian high commission spokesman in Dhaka said the "much anticipated" visit of Hasina was to dominate the talks though the two foreign secretaries were also expected to discuss the whole gamut of the bilateral ties.
Rao would be in Dhaka in her first visit to Bangladesh since she assumed the office of the top bureaucrat in the external affairs ministry in August this year.
The foreign ministry officials said during the two-day tour, Rao would hold bilateral talks with her counterpart Quayes, meet foreign minister Dipu Moni and call on Hasina and Khaleda Zia of opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).
Her visit comes a day after foreign minister Dipu Moni said the premier was likely to go to New Delhi on a three-day official visit beginning on December 19 when Bangladesh and India were likely to finalise bilateral agreements on various issues including mutual transit facilities. Moni visited India in September and on her return home from New Delhi she had expressed the hope the existing neighbourly ties would help find a quick solution to Bangladesh's outstanding issues with India.
"We have so many issues with India ...these will need to be settled under a continued process," she had said.
Moni had said the existing friendly ties were expected to intensify the resolution process while Dhaka and new Delhi were expected to sign several landmark treaties during the forthcoming visit of Hasina to the Indian capital.
During Moni's visit India agreed to facilitate Bangladesh's transit to Nepal and Bhutan, provide at least 100 mw power on priority basis, increase trade and communication facilities and resolve other outstanding issues during the foreign minister-level talks.
The two sides also agreed to settle three major border related issues of enclaves, lands in adverse possession and un-demarcated border lines under a package.
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