Sheikh Hasina, Narendra Modi likely to meet on sidelines of UN general assembly

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is expected to hold first meeting with her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi on September 27 on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, a foreign ministry official said here today.

"The two prime ministers are likely to hold their first meeting in New York expectedly on September 27," Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque told PTI. Officials familiar with the process had earlier said both the premiers are set to deliver their speeches in UN General Assembly on the same day and they were to hold the meeting after their addresses.

Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali is set to travel to New Delhi to join the Joint Consultative Commission meeting on September 20 with her Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj who made her first stand alone foreign tour to Dhaka in June. Soon after the BJP-led coalition won the elections, Hasina in her congratulatory message to Modi said, "I am delighted to see a great friend of Bangladesh leading an extremely friendly country, India, in the coming days." She later talked to him over phone.