The visit of Indian Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra to Bangladesh will further strengthen bilateral ties and add momentum to ongoing cooperation in diverse areas, the country’s Ministry of External Affairs said on Tuesday.
The visit is in line with the “highest priority” accorded as per India’s ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy, MEA said, adding that Bangladesh is India’s top-most development partner and its largest trade partner in the region.
Kwatra arrived here on Tuesday evening on an official visit to Bangladesh at the invitation of Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen.
Masud and his Indian counterpart Kwatra will discuss bilateral issues at the Foreign Office Consultations (FOC). The last FOC was held on January 29, 2021, in New Delhi, India.
During the visit, both foreign secretaries will review the entire range of bilateral relationship including political and security, water, trade and investment, power and energy, defence, connectivity and sub-regional cooperation.
The Indian foreign secretary is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at Ganabhaban on Wednesday afternoon.
He will also have meetings with Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen and PM’s Principal Secretary M Tofazzel Hossain Miah, according to his programme schedule.
Foreign Secretary Masud and Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Pranay Verma will host lunch and dinner in honour of the Indian Foreign Secretary respectively on Wednesday.
Kwatra arrived in Dhaka after the completion of his two-day official visit to Nepal (February 13-14).
He took over as foreign secretary on May 1 last year, and this is his first Bangladesh visit since then. He is scheduled to leave for New Delhi on Thursday morning.
PM Hasina is likely to attend the 18th Group of Twenty (G20) Summit which will take place in New Delhi on September 9-10 this year. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi invited Hasina to attend the Summit.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Momen will attend the G20 foreign ministers' meeting in New Delhi on March 1-2.
The issues related to the upcoming visits by the prime minister and foreign minister are likely to be discussed during the Indian foreign secretary’s visits, said a diplomatic source.
India, which holds the presidency of the G20 from December 1 2022 to November 30, 2023, invited Bangladesh as a “guest country” in its all meetings.
Bangladesh sees its series of engagements with the G20 under India’s presidency this year as a “big honour”.
Source: United News of Bangladesh