7 deals likely to be signed during PM’s Delhi visit: Momen

ZOOMBANGLA DESK: Dhaka and New Delhi are likely to sign at least seven instruments during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s India visit, said foreign minister Dr AK Abdul Momen.

“These agreements or MoUs are on water management, railway, science and technology; and information and broadcasting … after the (signing) ceremony honourable prime ministers of the two countries will issue a joint statement,” he said while briefing the media at the foreign ministry here.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will leave for New Delhi on Monday (September 5, 2022) on a four-day state visit at the invitation of her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi.

The foreign minister said Dhaka expects that the high-level visit would be very successful. “It (the visit) will help achieve our goals”, he said.

Momen said issues related to security cooperation, investment, enhanced trade relations, power and energy sector cooperation, water sharing of common rivers, water resources management, border management, and combating drug smuggling and human trafficking are likely to get priority during the talks between the two premiers.

“The visit is seen to play a supporting role in taking necessary programmes between the two countries to face different challenges amid the Ukraine crisis, global economic downturn and the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic,” he said.

The minister said the prime minister will lead a high-level delegation which includes several ministers, advisers, state ministers, secretaries and senior officials.

Representatives from business bodies of Bangladesh will also accompany the prime minister during the visit.

State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam and Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen were also present at the media briefing.

A VVIP chartered flight of the Biman Bangladesh Airlines carrying the Prime Minister and her entourage members will depart the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport Dhaka at 10 am tomorrow.

The red carpet will be rolled out at Palam Airport, New Delhi as the flight is scheduled to land at 12 pm (BD time).

During the visit, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is scheduled to hold bilateral talks and a one-to-one meeting with her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi at the Hyderabad House on September 6, the second day of her India visit.

On her arrival at the Hyderabad House, Prime minister Sheikh Hasina will be received by Narendra Modi where she will inspect the ceremonial guard of honour.

Sheikh Hasina later will join a luncheon to be hosted in her honour by the Indian Prime Minister.

She is scheduled to pay homage to Mahatma Gandhi at Raj Ghat on September 5.

On September 6, Sheikh Hasina is expected to make separate courtesy calls to Indian President Droupadi Murmu and Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar.

She is scheduled to meet family members of former Indian president Pranab Mukherjee on the same day.

The Indian External Affairs Minister will pay a call on the Bangladesh Premier on September 5 while Minister for Development of North Eastern Region of India G. Kishan Reddy and Nobel laureate Kailash Shatyarthi will make separate calls on her on September 7.

Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani will also pay a courtesy call on Sheikh Hasina on September 5.

On September 7, the Bangladesh Premier is expected to address a meeting of top business leaders and a ceremony for awarding “Mujib scholarship” to direct descendants of soldiers, officers of the defence forces of India, who were martyred or critically wounded during the Liberation War of Bangladesh in 1971.

The Prime Minister is scheduled to visit Khwaja Gharib Nawaz Dargah Sharif, Ajmer (Ajmer Sharif Dargah) in Rajasthan before returning to Dhaka on September 8 and Nizamuddin Aulia Dargah in Delhi on her first day of India visit on September 5. (BSS)